Director Jacqualynn “Jai” Harris has released “Mirrored America,” an AI-generated short film about race, labor, and American society.
The film follows a suburban family whose daily life falls apart after a fictional government order removes every person of color from the country and erases their contributions from American life.
Harris said the project was created to make viewers think about the people and work often taken for granted.
“This film is a mirror. Not a warning. Not a prediction. A mirror,” Harris said in a statement. “Everything you see in Mirrored America is already happening in some form.”
The short film was released with an original soundtrack song, “Caffeine Dust,” and is the first part of a planned six-episode series.
According to the synopsis, the family begins to realize how much their lives depend on inventions and other offerings from the people of color they had overlooked as those things fail and their daily routines collapse around them. Harris said the film is “not a political film,” but “a film about sight.”
The project was developed exclusively using AI filmmaking tools, showcasing Harris’ innovative direction throughout the entire creative process.
The countless inventions that African Americans and other people of color have contributed to societies on a global level have long gone understated and disregarded. “The historical references throughout this film are real,” Harris said in the release, citing mathematician Dr. Gladys West and her work related to the creation of GPS technology as an example.
The planned follow-up series, “Mirrored America: The Series,” will expand the story into science fiction and themes of history, identity, and reconciliation.
Harris is a Writers Guild of America member whose past work includes productions for BET, OWN, VH1, WE tv, Discovery+, and Bravo.
She called “Mirrored America” her “most personal and most urgent work to date.”
