Brett Gaylor is an interactive media producer and researcher. His recent releases are Field Notes From An Apocalypse, a collaboration with SciFi writer Christopher Brown, Necessary Tomorrows, a speculative documentary podcast with Al Jazeera, Welcome To The Metaverse, an AR project for the 2023 International Symposium on Electronic Art in Paris, and Discriminator, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. His 2020 documentary The Internet of Everything broadcast in more than 20 countries. For Do Not Track, OK Google and Rip! A Remix Manifesto, Brett has received the International Documentary Association award, a Peabody Award, the Prix Gémeaux and three Webbys. Brett has received a prestigious Canada Vanier scholarship for BrainRot Revolution, a creative research initiative to build critical data literacy which formed the basis of his 2026 PhD thesis at Simon Fraser University. Brett is the VP Creative at Hololabs, an award-winning immersive media studio in Victoria, BC, where he recently directed the free-roam virtual reality title Abyss Vault.

At the festival

Where to find Brett

Thursday · October 29
3:45–4:05 PM
H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
1100 Chestnut St, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9
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BrainRot Revolution
Brett Gaylor brings BrainRot Revolution, his doctoral research on documentary games and critical data literacy. How can playful, participatory work help people question AI and imagine a different internet?
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Thursday · October 29
4:25–4:35 PM
H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
1100 Chestnut St, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9
Get directions to H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (opens in a new tab)
Questions with the speakers
A filmmaker and a historian, then both on stage for questions.
On stage with Stephanie Dick.
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Times are Vancouver time and can still move. See the full program

Start here

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BrainRot Revolution
A satirical documentary game: players speed up AI model collapse, then rebuild a better internet from the ruins. The heart of his PhD.
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RiP! A Remix Manifesto
His 2008 feature on remix culture and copyright, with Girl Talk and Lawrence Lessig. Watch it next to today's fights over AI training data.
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Discriminator
His 2006 honeymoon photo on Flickr ended up training facial recognition systems. The film traces how, with AI, AR and animation.