Community Guidelines

The film imagines a dystopian future shaped by social media’s “community guidelines,” where a former content moderator—tasked with censoring violent and disturbing imagery—appears on a talk show.

Blending live action and digital imagery, the film explores censorship, empathy, and the blurred line between human and artificial consciousness.

Community Guidelines is a 15-minute short film set in a near future where images are heavily censored and visual information is no longer considered trustworthy. In this society, a talk show serves as entertainment for a privileged population, and the film follows an interview between the host and the evening’s guest, a former content cleaner who once censored violent and traumatic imagery.

The guest describes the psychological consequences of her work and a strange phenomenon: abstract objects she dreams about begin to materialize in reality. Throughout the interview, a growing sense of unease emerges, connected both to the guest’s concealed identity and the talk show’s surface-level lightness. The film invites doubt about whether the guest is even human at all, questioning empathy in a time when AI is increasingly taking over the task of filtering the world’s suffering.

The talk-show format acts as a familiar entry point into a dystopian scenario where spectacle overshadows humanity. Blending humor, vulnerability, and sci-fi elements, the film explores how technology shapes empathy, autonomy, and our ability to confront the pain of others.

My films balance familiarity and absurdity within fictional scenarios that feel close to home. I draw on recognizable narratives from media, information culture, and literature. Using humor and ambiguity, I examine how technology affects individual autonomy. Through dialogues between human actors, objects, and ideas, I explore how visual and technological developments shape our understanding of who we are and who we are expected to become.

Credits:
Produced, written, directed and edited by Maren Dagny Juell
Actors:
Solheim: Sondre Krogtoft Larsen
Eidol: Samatha Lawson
Crew:
Director of Photography: Jørgen Wetaas Bull
B Photo: Aleksander Andreassen
Costume Design: Maïna Joner
Sound Technician: Hanne Treidene
Production Assistant: Hannah Kvamsdal
Postproduction, Graphics and sound: Maren Dagny Juell
Consulting Producer: Tonje Alice Madsen
Recorded at Vjus Studio, Oslo
Thanks to the generous advice and input from:
Fredrik Skavlan
Richard Cawte
Katharina Martina Østergaard
Sisse Lee
Anton Benois
Funded by:
The Audio and Visual Fund, Arts Council Norway, Norwegian Visual Artists Fund