"PLAY" By David Kaplan and Eric Zimmerman

Check this out, the highly stylized and mind-bending short film created by local game designer extraordinaire Eric Zimmerman and filmmaker David Kaplan has been released to the interwebs and it's nothing short of awesome.

I really liked this film. The almost ethereal visual qualities intertwined with a mysterious and compelling narrative really give the audience something to chew on after the credits roll. Although a deep understanding of games and development is not needed to enjoy "Play", those close to games and/or have a passing interest in game theory, the future of games, and the limits of the "magic circle" will find the work here especially intruiging.

Here's the film's official description:  

"Play imagines a not-too-distant future where video games have become indistinguishable from reality. These fully immersive games are nested inside each other like Russian dolls — each new game emerging from another and connecting backwards with increasing complexity. One moment, a player is a Japanese schoolgirl embroiled in a pillow fight with her girlfriends — and the next moment, the player has suddenly morphed into a scandalized state senator defending himself against a throng of angry reporters.

Synthetic experience competes with real experience as dream, fantasy, and memory begin to collapse into each other. Identities become elastic as the players consecutively inhabit completely different genders, ages, and ethnicities. They must confront a new state of “play” where the distinction between the real and the virtual blurs and their true selves are called into doubt.

A host of questions emerge: Who are the players? Who are the game designers? What is the purpose of these games? What is the point of winning? Where is it all leading? And if someone wants to stop playing, where in the hell is the escape button?

Play has the structure of a puzzle, and is not meant to resolve into a single explanation or interpretation.  Rather, the film is a meditation on our present day of hyperconnectivity and information overload, using videogames as the metaphor for the very human search for meaning and identity."

Heavy stuff, but pulled off with style. The film was shot in six days, mostly in New York City, with a small crew and a large cast of local New York actors. Be sure to keep an eye out for a cameo by Sortasoft's Joshua DeBonis. There might actually be a few other local developers in the film that I didn't notice on first viewing as well. Great job!