‘The Painter and the Thief’ Director Benjamin Ree Unveils New Film Project at CPH:DOX (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comLise Pedersen Norwegian filmmaker Benjamin Ree, whose previous film “The Painter and the Thief” picked up a host of awards including Best Storytelling at Sundance, has given Variety exclusive access to his new doc film project, “Ibelin,” at the Copenhagen Intl.
Documentary Film Festival.The film is named after the “World of Warcraft” avatar of Mats Steen, a young Norwegian man who died at the age of 25 from DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy), a rare genetic disorder that causes muscle degeneration.After his death, Mats’ parents discovered that their disabled son, who for the last 10 years of his life had been wheelchair-bound and needed constant medical assistance, has led a rich and eventful life online and made friends around the world on the way.
After acquiring the rights to his story through a book published by Mats’ father and the content of Mats’ blog, Ree decided to recreate Mats’ avatar’s life in animation form in what he says “will be the first time ever, to my knowledge.”“They stored so much information – there are 42,000 forum posts! – and we are planning to take out models from the game, like the trees, the background, the buildings, the characters and the dialogue, and tell Mats’ avatar story.
It’s quite extraordinary to have so much archival material that makes it possible to recreate his online life.”The biggest challenge will be to condense nearly a decade of avatar life into one film, says Ree, who is currently working on a first animatic draft.In addition to the animation, “Ibelin” will also feature footage drawn from some 50 hours of home-made videos shot by Mats’ parents, as well as present day interviews with family and friends.For the filmmaker, “this story is about the value of a life.
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