Sparked by a heart-wrenching breakup and the state of the world, a woman undergoes an experimental treatment involving household appliances to reclaim her lost ability to feel.
Nina, a sharp-witted and emotionally guarded office manager, has her world upended when her girlfriend Jess breaks up with her, accusing her of being emotionally stunted. Lost and unable to connect with her feelings, Nina fills the void with puzzles and relentless doomscrolling of TV news detailing a planet in crisis—extinct fireflies, microplastics, and collapsing ecosystems.
At the urging of her brother Ron, Nina reluctantly seeks help from Cami, an unconventional experimental psychologist working out of the back of a convenience store. Cami introduces Nina to a strange yet promising technology: modified household appliances designed to amplify emotional energy fields and help users break through their emotional walls. Armed with a pink vacuum cleaner as her emotional catalyst, Nina joins a therapy group of misfit participants, each with their own device and emotional challenges.
As Nina navigates the quirky group dynamics and grapples with her skepticism, she encounters Sidney, a warm and open-hearted woman armed with a garment steamer who longs to feel the “BEST EMOTION.” Despite their differences, the two form a tentative connection, but Nina’s deep-seated resistance to vulnerability—and her growing frustration with the state of the world—threatens to derail her progress. When a failed attempt to reconnect with Jess pushes her to the edge, Nina must confront the very emotions she’s spent her life avoiding.
With a unique blend of poignant comedy and surreal sci-fi, Appliance of Science explores the messy, beautiful journey of rediscovering our emotions in an increasingly chaotic world.
Dawn Jones Redstone is a queer, Mexican American writer/director based in Portland, Oregon, known for her thoughtful and imaginative storytelling. Her feature film, Mother of Color, is now streaming on major platforms, continuing to resonate with audiences for its compelling narrative and emotional depth.
Prior to that she directed multiple short films including the acclaimed Sista in the Brotherhood, distributed by Collective Eye, tweeted about by the Governor of Oregon, and purchased by the US Dept of Labor.
Rooted in cinema as the ultimate empathy machine, her narratives often feature women of color exploring themes of resistance, and self actualization. She believes in participating in community and using her hiring decisions to help create an inclusive filmmaking environment that reflects and brings needed perspective to the world we live in.
In addition to running her own video production business, Hearts+Sparks, Dawn currently works part-time as a Creative Director/Director at B-Corp video production company Funnelbox, and as a freelance director at-large. Her upcoming project, Appliance of Science, was selected for the Stowe Story Feature Campus. She was also a recent mentor for the Women in Film Portland chapter's new Educate/Incubate program and spoke at Creative Mornings in Portland.
In 2017, she was selected to shadow Debra Granik on the set of Leave No Trace. She was named a Woman of Vision by the Daily Journal of Commerce and is the recipient of OMPA's Inspiration and Service Award for her work helping to bring equity to the state film incentives in the form of HB 3010.
She's on the board of Portland Panorama, and on the advisory council for Lesbian Culture Club. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her wife, daughter, two cats and a dog.
