1. Indie Game: The Movie
Our top spot for video game documentaries is Indie Game: The Movie a documentary that follows four indie game developers as they develop and release their games. It follows Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes through the release of tough-as-nails Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish and the development of the wonderfully colourful FEZ and Jonathan Blow and his thoughts on his highly successful time turning game Braid. This documentary captures an important time in video game history, the rise of the indie games, whilst also showing the struggles of independent development in the video game industry. What makes this documentary so meaningful is the number of ideas the directors managed to explore in the film; storytelling, personal expression, videogames as art, gaming communities, development processes, personal struggles, the list goes on and on. An important reflection to take away from this documentary is that when we play games we don’t really think about where the creativity and ideas come from. Indie Game: The Movie helps us by looking at the people and the meanings behind these games. These creators wanted to make something enjoyable and fun but it’s also a way for them to express their deepest vulnerabilities and to communicate with people. The documentary is also beautifully shot well constructed and has an amazing soundtrack composed by Jim Guthrie – pretty much the whole package. Indie Game: The Movie is a fantastic documentary that every video game fan should see.
~Rachel Watts
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