Independent Press Award
2025 Distinguished Favorite
Clarence & Fermin
Icarus In Silico
An inventor, a revolutionary, and a robot. Aspiring roboticist Jae, his brother Judah, and their humanoid robot, Icarus, live on the outskirts of the last city after the end of the world. When he is hired to help perfect the artificial intelligence model that will help revolutionize the robotics industry and launch the city of Intermina into the future, Jae and his household struggle as their ideals for that future diverge and threaten to tear them apart.
As Icarus adapts and evolves through his blossoming sentience and newfound free will, he attempts to discover what it truly means to be human. Judah, weakened and hiding his illness, fights an uphill battle on behalf of the forgotten outskirts against the city. Meanwhile, Jae slowly loses sight of his own humanity as the three of them fight not to be crushed beneath the weight of analyzing love, moral responsibility, and what bends when one’s civil duty goes against both.