Seeking your soulmate? There’s an app for that.

Director’s Statement

Crystal is a sci-fi romantic comedy about a neurotic young woman who thinks she’ll never find Mr. Right… until she gets access to a top-secret, artificially-intelligent matchmaking app. It promises to use Big Data, machine-learning neural-networks, and every other tech tool that nobody really understands, in order to find her perfect man… if such a thing actually exists. The film explores the difficulty of finding love in the age of Instagram, and poses the question: Does our technology know us better than we know ourselves?

The film was inspired by Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, and the prickly questions it poses about A.I. and Big Data… but it grounds those heady ideas in the relatable, entertaining story of a young woman looking for love in all the wrong places (which I know a thing or two about myself).

Working in social media for over 8 years, I’ve been forced to learn how to tell “bite-sized stories” that will be consumed on someone’s phone. My dream was to blend my skills in digital marketing and knowledge of user behavior, with true narrative filmmaking. I designed nearly all of the app content myself and was so excited to see this vision I had for so long, finally come to life.

Crystal is directed by award-winning filmmaker Casey Gates Frey, who has spent the last 5 years working in social media and advocating for women in Hollywood… and is co-written with her husband Dan– a screenwriter, novelist, and all-around nerd.

Crystal stars actress and comedy influencer Manon Mathews, with Kyla Garcia, Kunal Dudheker, Brick Patrick, and Jamie Wollrab.