‘In-World War’ Sounds Like Virtually Brilliant Sci-Fi

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 6, 2009

Like most of you, I peruse the internet on a daily basis. I never really stop to think about it in terms of location, though. I’m sitting in a chair, checking out website after website (mostly just re-loading FSR so our hit counts go up), and since I never have to move, I never look at it as “visiting” a site. Of course, in a way, I really am traveling – it’s just in a confined sense of the word.

So I find it fascinating that I can travel the world without leaving my office chair, and I find it equally fitting that I stumbled upon news of an indie production setting up in the San Francisco Bay area that deals with virtual reality and the possible future histrionic look at our War on Terror while virtually wandering the wastes of the internet.

io9 has the scoop on a new science fiction film called In-World War where a game-tester in 2075 is stuck logged into his virtual reality, breaks free into the real world but finds himself in the wrong place and, you know, the wrong body.

But what’s it really all about? This version of 2075 will have been greatly affected by current political events. Filmmaker shared this with SF306:

This film is about mythologizing history, and the calcification of conventional wisdom as the accepted narrative of what happened. Specific issues of Muslim stereotyping and the 2002-03 fear-mongering era may be behind us, but they still have lasting imprints that will affect us through the ages, at least for the next few generations.”

Sounds like it will delve into some fairly complicated social issues while looking at them through the lens of how 2075 will look and feel about our current political history.

Director Brant Smith self-describes himself as a guerilla filmmaker, so if you’re in the Bay area, be prepared for random crews to roll up without permits on your streets and shoot what sounds like a very, very cool sci-fi flick.

You can follow the film at its production blog.

Call me a sucker for political films and science fiction (and call me a sucker for advances in technology even if they’re fictional), but this thing sounds cool as hell. I’m not totally in love with DIY when it comes to something like sci-fi, but given the right director, it could be taken in a very interesting direction – especially since this project looks like it deals more with character than just showcasing crazy tech. Still, you gotta have that technology to make it look and feel like 2075. Nevertheless, I’ve got my fingers crossed that Smith can pull off something fantastic.

What do you think?

Read more articles by Dr. Cole Abaius