To play or not to play is the major question of this KISFF selection, which presents video games as a cinematic narrative. Collected here are the iconic short films of the 2010s that demonstrate the changes in the video game industry and, most importantly, in the human consciousness behind their creation. Get acquainted with samurai and deserters at the frontline and become part of the evolutionary process of planet Earth.
Screening duration: 77 min
Trigger and content warnings: blood, gunshots, murder
The films are screened in OV with Ukrainian and English subtitles
The films are available online in Ukraine, Poland, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Germany
19 November, 21:00 / KINO 42, Konstantinovskaya St, 11B
20 November, 18:20 / Zhovten Cinema, Classic hall, Konstantinovskaya St, 26
22 November, 18:20 / Zhovten Cinema, Classic hall, Konstantinovskaya St, 26
Swatted, 2018
Director Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis researched the history of prank interventions in video gaming and created a short film based on them about the phenomenon of "swatting". While a player calmly goes through the GTA V online game, they can lose control of it anytime. Sometimes, this leads to tragic consequences. Specifically, the film opens with a real-life 911 call – a man claims to have killed his father and is holding his mother at gunpoint because she prevented him from playing.
dir. Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis / France
HOW TO DISAPPEAR: DESERTING BATTLEFIELD, 2020
While trying to escape from the battlefield in the Battlefield video game, you are warned about disobeying orders. Eventually, the AI algorithm kills you. This raises the question of whether it is worth fleeing at all, and whether war can exist without desertion. An extremely relevant film for Ukraine, where you recognize reality through a video game.
dir. Leonhard Müllner, Robin Klengel, Michael Stumpf / Austria
MARTIN CRIES, 2017
Jonathan Vinel's films are such frequent guests at KISFF that the director himself came to present one of them. Through video games, the director reveals human weaknesses and vices. The focus of attention this time is loneliness. The main character, Martin, cries, wanders the empty streets, looks for friends and does not find them. Video games can serve as an escape from reality, but they can also deepen it. This experience in Vinel's film was felt especially acutely during the Covid-19 pandemic, although the film was released three years before the epidemic began.
dir. Jonathan Vinel / France
SAMURAI, 2018
The release of the video game Ghost of Tsushima showed that the interest in Japanese culture, and especially in the culture of the samurai, is not inferior to the interest in the terrible monsters of the game "The Last of Us". French director Jono Allen predicted this very trend. His film follows the daily life of a samurai through the prism of a video game, bringing the viewer closer to an almost meditative state.
dir. Iono Allen / France
EVERYTHING, 2017
Director David O'Reilly calls his short film a "gameplay film." For 10 minutes, viewers are invited to explore nature from its smallest atoms to plants and animals. The director tries himself in the role of a god, setting up a simulation of the world. Of course, the ability to influence development and evolution is limited but the viewer might be able to experience the philosophy of Stoicism. O'Reilly released the gameplay as a film, although you can also play the game on PlayStation.
dir. David O'Reilly / USA, Ireland
