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"Sometimes, bad people make for good movies. In biting comedies, incisive dramas, and everything in between, this series brings together a collection of self-centered jerks and floundering sadsacks whose small faults build up to “cringe” scenes. We are shocked, appalled, perhaps even delighted. We are certainly moved. Paradoxically, cringe can mutate into empathy; it elicits a visceral understanding from the viewer, compassion conjured from cruelty.
“It’s unsurprising that this series is dominated by white filmmakers, who feel no need to write characters that are honorably representative,” notes series programmer Kit Zauhar, director of Actual People. “It seems an artist who has the privilege to create without political or societal expectations will choose to forcefully challenge—rather than assuage—viewers’s empathy. But people of all colors can be unlikable, and I hope soon that is reflected on screen as representation in cinema becomes more nuanced and free, unconstrained by how POC are supposed to be seen. Because to be considered equal is to be seen as just as capable in every way as our counterparts.”"