Knit’s Island

With director Ekiem Barbier and producer Boris Garavini in person 

Dir. Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h. France. 2023, 95 mins. DCP. In English and French with English subtitles. On the 250 km2 island of Chernarus, an Eastern European, post-Soviet republic in the Green Sea, chaos and destruction reign as people infected with a zombifying virus threaten the survivors. French filmmaking trio Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h (Marlow Drive) drop into this fictional landscape, which exists within the world of the video game DayZ, as journalistic avatars. Over 963 hours, before and during COVID lockdowns, the team endeavors to stay alive long enough to film their interactions with the surprising community of people who spend their time in this VR world. Shot with aesthetic precision solely within the game engine, Knit’s Island manages to crack the veneer of players’ characters, giving us a window into their “real” lives. But which reality is more real to the players? Jury Prize, Burning Lights Competition, 2023 Visions du Réel, Cinematic Vision Award, Camden International Film Festival. Presented as part of Science on Screen and Welcome to the Machine. New York premiere 

Preceded by: 
I Would Like to Rage 
Dir. Chloé Gailbert-Laîné. 2023, 12 mins. From role-playing games to animated GIFs, from reenacted performances to poetic writing, the latest desktop video essay from one of the trailblazers of the form asks: what is an authentic expression of anger? New York premiere 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. 

Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier and Quentin L’helgoualc’h met at the School of Fine Arts of Montpellier. In 2017 they directed Marlowe Drive, shot entirely in an online game, screened in various festival (FIFIB, Brive) and art centers (Fondation Cartier, Centquatre Paris). In 2018 they began writing their first feature-length documentary.

Chloé Galibert-Laîné is a French researcher and filmmaker, currently working as a Assistant Professor in Film Studies at the American University of Paris. Their work explores the intersections between cinema and online media, with a particular interest for questions related to modes of spectatorship, gestures of appropriation and mediated memory. Their award-winning video essays and desktop documentaries have been presented at IFFRotterdam, Oberhausen Kurzfilmwoche, FIDMarseille, and IDFA.