2023
—Present

Immortality

"The idea of Immortality is to have you watch the movie footage with something like the mindset of a film editor. One who is trying to make sense of, put together this stack of footage from lost movies." 

—Sam Barlow

"Immortality" is an innovative and unique project created by Sam Barlow, a game developer known for his focus on narrative and player agency. It is a video game that doubles as three feature-length films exploring the treatment of women in Hollywood, in particular the misogyny they encountered during different eras of cinema. It is played through a clip-oriented system like those created with a Moviola editing machine. By clicking on objects and artifacts in a scene, you can jump into a new narrative or a behind-the-scenes clip. The flexibility in its gameplay allows you to watch the films as a 10-hour-long scrapbooked movie or to play like a true crime fanatic, flipping through manual fast-forward and rewind functions with your keyboard or controller to uncover missed glances and evidence. "Immortality" is an example of how video games can be used to explore complex themes and challenge traditional genres, blurring the lines between cinema, gaming, and interactive fiction.