THANK YOU FOR PLAYING

Transcription

1 THANK YOU FOR PLAYING DIRECTED BY DAVID OSIT & MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL WORLD PREMIERE: 2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL Friday April 17th, 5:45pm Tuesday April 21st, 6:45pm th Saturday April 18, 6:15pm Thursday April 23rd, 5:45pm All screenings followed by Q&A with the filmmakers and subjects of the film OFFICIAL MOVIE SITE: 80 MINUTES / ENGLISH PRESS CONTACT: Adam Segal The 2050 Group Cell: (202) adam@the2050group.com SALES CONTACT: Philippa Kowarsky & Heather Wyer Cinephil info@cinephil.co.il

2 SUMMARY: When one-year-old Joel is diagnosed with terminal cancer, his father Ryan begins working on an unusual and poetic video game to honor Joel's life. Following Ryan's family through the creation of the game and the day-to-day realities of Joel s treatment, David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall's latest film is a thought-provoking testimony to the empathetic power of art, examining how we process grief through technology in the twenty-first century, and the implications of documenting profound human experiences in a new artistic medium: the video game. SYNOPSIS: Four years ago, Ryan and Amy Green learned that their baby son Joel s rare cancer was terminal they were devastated. Searching for a way to explore his feelings, Ryan, an indie video game developer, found solace in the most appropriate creative outlet he knew: a video game. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING follows Ryan as he creates a game called That Dragon, Cancer, and recruits his wife and sons into the process of documenting their daily life for this unusual work of art. His video game is a poetic exploration of a father s relationship with his son, an interactive painting, a vivid window into the mind of a grieving parent. Throughout his creative process, Ryan must decide where to draw the line in sharing his family s experiences of raising a dying child. From having his sons reenact difficult conversations, to recording Joel s giggle, to painstakingly photographing every detail of the hospital, Ryan s life becomes consumed by the complicated process of creating a digital world that mirrors his own. Combining footage from both Ryan s real and animated worlds, THANK YOU FOR PLAYING follows his journey of encoding his life into an experience that is playable by others, as he continues to care for his son. The film s U.S. television broadcast premiere on POV Is scheduled for Summer MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM:

3 DIRECTORS STATEMENT Ryan and Amy s video game, That Dragon, Cancer comes at a time when video games and interactive media are emerging as a wildly innovative art form, even as society is questioning humans relationship with, and dependence on, technology. We are fascinated by this tension, which is why we set out to make this film. From the moment we first heard about That Dragon, Cancer, we immediately wanted to know more about why Ryan and Amy had chosen a video game--a medium so often associated with explosions and violence--to convey one of the most emotional, personal and private experiences a family can go through. Once we saw for ourselves how many people were profoundly moved by the game, and how playing it often facilitated more, rather than less, social interaction, we were hooked and knew we had to keep following this story. The fact that a video game was capable of awakening this sort of empathy astounded us, and we soon realized that Ryan isn t only a video game developer, he s also an artist - and programming is his paintbrush. Thank You For Playing explores the very personal experiences of a family dealing with cancer, and the beauty and hope that can be found in art, while also examining the age-old question of where the boundaries lie in representing difficult emotional experiences in art. Ultimately, we hope the film will challenge people to re-examine their own assumptions about bereavement, technology, video games, and art.

4 ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS DAVID OSIT is a documentary film director, editor and composer. His work has appeared on networks such as Arte, PBS, TLC, Al-Jazeera America and Channel4. David s first feature documentary film BUILDING BABEL which he produced, directed, shot, edited and composed, was a recipient of ITVS Open Call funding, broadcast as the series premiere of PBS America Reframed in 2013, and played at film festivals worldwide, including True/False and DocNYC. David was co-producer, composer and sound recorder on WHERE HEAVEN MEETS HELL, which broadcast on PBS Global Voices in 2013 and premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). David is an alumnus of the Tribeca Film Institute s All Access Program and the True/False SWAMI program. He received his bachelorʼs degree at the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, and studied Refugee Law at the American University of Cairo. David is a recipient of the Anthony Rhodes Vice Presidential Scholarship and received his MFA in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts in New York. For more info visit: MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL is an award-winning filmmaker of British/Moroccan origin. She is one of the directors and the producer of CALL ME KUCHU (2012), a documentary that depicts the last year in the life of the first openly gay man in Uganda, David Kato. The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary and the Cinema Fairbindet Prize. It has since won 18 more awards including Best International Feature at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and has been theatrically distributed in Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. Malika is a Chaz & Roger Ebert Directing Fellow and an alumnus of the Film Independent Documentary Lab, the Tribeca All Access program, the Firelight Producers Lab, and the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant at Full Frame Documentary Festival. In 2012, Filmmaker Magazine named Malika one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Malika is a graduate of Cambridge University, and holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), where she studied with a full scholarship from the Entente Cordiale Scholarship Scheme. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, journalist Andy Greenberg. For more info visit:

5 ABOUT THE GAME "That Dragon, Cancer" is currently being developed by Ryan & Amy Green and Josh Larson along with five others at their new studio Numinous Games. As the Numinous team describe it: That Dragon, Cancer is a videogame developer's love letter to his son; an immersive adventure game to inspire love for others; a memorial for hundreds who have fought cancer. It is a poetic and playful interactive retelling of Joel Green s 4-year fight against cancer, and an autobiographical memoir of how parents Ryan and Amy embrace hope in the face of death. The game is set for release in Fall Alongside the film s world premiere, excerpts of the video game That Dragon, Cancer will be available to play at the festival as part of the Tribeca Film Institute s Interactive Playground at Spring Studios on Saturday, April 18th. Contact us to arrange a time to play the game and meet Ryan and his team: press@the2050group.com.

6 CREDITS IN MEMORY OF JOEL EVAN GREEN DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY DAVID OSIT & MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL EDITED BY DAVID OSIT & MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL CINEMATOGRAPHER & COMPOSER DAVID OSIT FEATURING ORIGINAL MATERIAL FROM THE GAME THAT DRAGON, CANCER : ANIMATION RYAN COUSINS RYAN GREEN JOSH LARSON ORIGINAL GAME SCORE JON HILLMAN CONSULTING EDITOR ERIC DANIEL METZGAR ADDITIONAL EDITING ALEX MEILLIER GRAPHIC DESIGN ALEX MEILLIER ADDITIONAL CAMERA AMY GREEN RYAN GREEN MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL SASHA FRIEDLANDER PRODUCTION SOUND MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL DAVID OSIT ADDITIONAL SOUND SASHA FRIEDLANDER OUTREACH & DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR ANDREA BETANZOS

7 PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS IVY JAFF NATALIE RUIZ TOFANO EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR ITVS SALLY JO FIFER EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY POV SIMON KILMURRY SUPERVISING SOUND EDITORS TOM EFINGER, JEFF SEELYE, AND ABIGAIL SAVAGE SOUND DESIGNER ABIGAIL SAVAGE DIALOGUE EDITOR JEFF SEELYE FOLEY ARTIST SHAUN BRENNAN FOLEY RECORDIST JEFF SEELYE SOUND EDITORS COLIN THIBADEAU JAMES PANEPINTO SPENCER HALL RE-RECORDING MIXER TOM EFINGER AUDIO POST FACILITY DIG IT AUDIO AUDIO POST PRODUCER COLIN THIBADEAU DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE COLORIST WILL COX DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE ONLINE EDITOR SANDY PATCH DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE PRODUCER CAITLIN TARTARO POST PRODUCTION SERVICES FINAL FRAME

8 LEGAL COUNSEL FERNANDO RAMIREZ DEBRA MAYER BOOKKEEPING MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL MELISSA BERTONCINI PUBLICITY ADAM J. SEGAL, THE 2050 GROUP WORLD SALES PHILIPPA KOWARSKY, CINEPHIL SPECIAL THANKS CALEB HELLER IYABO BOYD RYAN COUSINS ANDY GREENBERG AMANDA HILLMAN JON HILLMAN JOSH LARSON MIKE PERROTTO STEPHANIE GREEN THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HOSPITAL FAMILY HOUSE SAN FRANCISCO UCSF BENIOFF CHILDREN S HOSPITAL -- THE FILMMAKERS WOULD LIKE TO THANK RYAN, AMY AND THE ENTIRE GREEN FAMILY, AS WELL AS THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM BEHIND THAT DRAGON, CANCER THANKS AL ATTARA JULIE BENELLO NIKI BHATTACHARYA LYRIC CABRAL PILAR HAILE DAMATO MARIAM DWEDAR N JERI EATON WENDY ETTINGER PENELOPE FALK ALEX HAGON JAMES HALL ALEX HANNIBAL RYAN HARRINGTON JUDITH HELFAND JASON ISHIKAWA ADRIANNE JEFFRIES BAO NGUYEN MONA NICOARA BENJAMIN NIMKIN NICOLE OPPER KAREN OSIT STEVEN OSIT BURHAN QURBANI YORUBA RICHEN JOSE RODRIGUEZ DAN SCHOENBRUN MARTHA SHANE JASON SPINGARN-KOFF DAVID FELIX SUTCLIFFE SHANA SWANSON NICOLE TSIEN JORGE TRELLES

9 INGRID KOPP ADAM KURNITZ JENNIFER KUSHNER ADELLA LADJEVARDI ANGELA LEE LOIRA LIMBAL ERIN MACAVOY TANYA MEILLIER MICHELLE MOGHTADER STANLEY NELSON LYNN TRUE JAMIN WARREN PATRICK WANG ADAM WEBER JOSH WELSH CHRIS WHITE JAMILA WIGNOT STEVE WORRALL KENZA ZOUHALI-HAGON NAIMA ZOUHALI-WORRALL MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM: Independent Television Service (ITVS) American Documentary POV Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Chicken & Egg Pictures Cinephil International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Firelight Media Film Independent Independent Filmmaker Project Tribeca Film Institute, Tribeca All Access FISCAL SPONSOR Independent Filmmaker Project Video Game Footage courtesy of "That Dragon, Cancer" DAYLIGHT Written and Performed by Vitaly Beskrovny IN THE DEVIL'S TERRITORY Written and Performed by Sufjan Stevens Published by New Jerusalem Music Thank You For Playing is a co-production of Kinematic Films LLC and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). This program was produced by Kinematic Films LLC which is solely responsible for its content. KINEMATIC FILMS LLC All Rights Reserved.