The Milan Machinima Festival is excited to present the full length documentary Knit’s Island as part of the Game Video Essay program. The film will be screened on March 14 2024 in the Sala dei 146 at IULM University. Today we are happy to share an exclusive clip. But well before its Milanese premiere, Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier and Quentin L’helgoualc’h’s documentary has collected a series of awards at major retrospectives. Let’s face it: the game video essay has become a hot film genre.
Knit’s Island, an innovative documentary that ventures into the digital world to explore the complexities of online communities in the popular post-apocalyptic game DayZ, has garnered widespread acclaim across a variety of prestigious film festivals worldwide. Directed by a visionary team of French filmmakers who immersed themselves in the virtual landscape as avatars, this groundbreaking film explores the blurred lines between reality and the digital realm, offering a unique perspective on the virtualization of our lives.
Set within a 250 square kilometer online space, Knit’s Island invites audiences on an ethnographic journey through a survivalist fiction world where players gather to share stories, fears, aspirations, and the essence of human connection. The film crew, adopting avatars as their digital personas, engages with this community, unraveling the layers of digital identity as players reveal their true selves behind the avatars. This exploration into the heart of digital communities challenges viewers to reconsider the boundaries of our physical and virtual existences.
The film’s tour de force began with its world premiere at Visions du Réel in Switzerland, where it won both the Jury Prize in the Burning Lights Competition and the International Critics’ Award (FIPRESCI Award), setting the stage for its subsequent success. Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier and Quentin L’helgoualc’h’s film continued to captivate audiences and critics alike at various international retrospectives, including the Documenta Madrid International Film Festival in Spain, Millennium Docs Against Gravity in Poland, and the Subversive Film Festival in Croatia, where it received a Special Mention in… you guessed! the Subversive Competition.
The documentary’s acclaim did not stop there. It was also celebrated at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania, the Biografilm Festival in Italy, and DokuFest in Kosovo, showcasing its universal appeal. Its selection for competitions in diverse genres, from the International Feature Dox Competition at DokuFest to the Official Competition in the Animated Feature Category at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, demonstrates the film’s innovative approach to storytelling and its ability to transcend traditional documentary formats with its unique mix of online ethnography and digital anthropology.
Knit’s Island also made its mark in Asia at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in Korea, and in North America at the Camden International Film Festival in the United States, where it competed in the Cinematic Vision competition. Its participation in the 2024 Milan Machinima Festival and the 2024 First Look at the Museum of The Moving Images in New York further signifies its ongoing relevance and the growing interest in films that navigate the complexities of virtual worlds.
This film not only provides a window into the lives of individuals within these digital communities but also questions the future implications of our increasingly virtual lives. The international recognition and accolades Knit’s Island has received underscore the documentary’s significance in contemporary cinema, marking it as a pivotal work in the exploration of online ethnography and the evolving narrative of human connection in the digital age. This is the kind of films that could inspire a new generation of documentarians.
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