夜晚來電 Late Night Call
作者：蔣書弘
★作品說明：
現實照進夢境，荒謬取代寫實。
跨性別運動倡議者時常在網路社群遭受攻訐、肉搜，甚至有人闖入私人社交空間，帶著敵意反覆質問。本片將這些真實經驗轉化為一通深夜來電：電話另一端無止盡的追問與騷擾，如同網路世界的惡意突然入侵現實生活。
面對來電，片中女主人並未認真迎戰，而是以AI語音，用荒謬、錯置甚至答非所問的方式回應。因為面對所有不懷好意的攻擊，我們或許不必永遠嚴肅應戰；有時候，幽默也是一種抵抗，而AI可能成為你的好朋友。
本片靈感來自楊德昌《恐怖分子》：當年的匿名電話攪動一座城市；今日，一則留言、一封私訊、一通來電，同樣可能穿越螢幕，侵入一個人的生活。《夜晚來電》試圖追問：在網路時代，誰又成為了我們身邊看不見的「恐怖分子」？
★ 評審評述│陳瑄：
以性別為主題的創作經常建基於個人經驗，此慣例亦見於本次徵件，〈夜晚來電〉在其中是唯一的「劇情片」，因而令人眼前一亮。這固然不是說它與個人經驗無關，其劇情圍繞跨女主角於深夜被陌生來電吵醒，繼而面臨一連串恐跨質詢，無論是質詢的內容或私領域被侵擾的壓迫氛圍，皆影射跨性別者的實現處境。選擇劇情片的形式而非以紀實為主，一方面能靈活挪用驚慄片的風格化處理，對影射加以渲染和強調，另一方面也替觀眾保留事實可以不必如此的緩衝距離。這樣看來，以AI代主角回應質詢，並給予情緒價值的結局看似荒謬，卻或許是最精心與貼心的安排。AI成了恐跨者與跨性別者之間的緩衝，這未必是最好的結局，倒也提供了應用科技於性別困局的一種可能性。
★ Artist’s Statement
Reality enters a dream, and absurdity replaces realism.
Transgender activists often face attacks and doxxing on social media. Sometimes people even enter their private social spaces and repeatedly pester them with hostility.
This film transforms those real experiences into a late-night phone call. The endless questions and harassment from the other end of the phone feel like the hostility of the online world suddenly penetrating real life.
Faced with the call, the female protagonist does not earnestly fight back. Instead, she uses an AI-generated voice to respond in absurd, misplaced, and even completely irrelevant manners.
When faced with harassment, perhaps we do not always have to respond seriously. Sometimes humor can also be a form of resistance, and AI may become a good friend.
The film was inspired by Edward Yang’s The Terrorizers. In that film, an anonymous phone call disturbed an entire city. Today, a comment, a private message, or a phone call can similarly break through the screen and invade someone’s life.
Late Night Call asks: in the age of the internet, who is the invisible “terrorist” among us?
★ Comment from the Judge│Chan Shuen
Gender-themed works are often based on personal experiences, and this trend is also apparent in this competition. Late Night Call stands out as the only narrative film.
This does not mean that it is unrelated to personal experience. The story centers on a transgender woman who is awakened by an unknown caller late at night and then faces a series of hostile questions about transgender people.
Both the content of the questions and the oppressive atmosphere of having one’s private space invaded reflect the real experiences of transgender people.
By choosing a narrative film rather than a documentary approach, the work can freely borrow elements from the thriller genre, exaggerating and emphasizing the situations it refers to. At the same time, it gives the audience enough distance to imagine that reality does not have to be this way.
In this light, using AI to respond and provide emotional support to the attackers may seem absurd, but it might also just be the most carefully considered outcome.
AI becomes a buffer between transphobic attackers and transgender netizens. It may not be the ideal solution, but it offers one possible way of using technology to mediate gender-based digital violence.