‘Ibelin’ Filmmaker Benjamin Ree on How to Make a Documentary With an Avatar as the Main Star
variety.comAddie Morfoot Contributor In “Ibelin” Norwegian filmmakerBenjamin Ree focuses on Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer who died in 2014 of a degenerative muscular disease at age 25.
Ree, who as a child was family friends with the Steen family, conceived of the project after reading a 2019 BBC article. The piece explains that after Mats’ death his parents discovered that they were all wrong about their son’s social life.
Instead of a lonely, isolated existence in a wheelchair, they found out that Mats had been leading a vibrant digital life as Lord Ibelin Redmoore, an avatar, in the popular video game “World of Warcraft.” After his death, people from all over Europe, who had never physically met Mats, sent his parents condolence letters expressing how their son had profoundly impacted their lives.
Variety spoke with Ree ahead of the Sundance world premiere of “Ibelin” on Jan. 18. After reading the BBC article in 2019 did you know immediately that you wanted to make this documentary? When I read that article, I thought it was just one of the most moving stories I ever read.
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