Coming to Brooklyn’s reRun Gastropub Theater for a week run beginning this Friday, May 20: LIFE 2.0
Jason Springarn-Koff’s debut documentary feature, an eye-opening look at Second Life, had its world premiere at Sundance last year before screening at a number of notable festivals, including SXSW, Sarasota, San Francisco, CPH:DOX, and Philadelphia, where it picked up the Best Documentary Feature award. It will be part of Oprah’s Documentary Club on OWN this August.
Plunging headlong into Second Life’s user-generated virtual online world, Springarn-Koff finds four subjects whose avatars are experiencing very different lives than they’ve been able to in the real world – a romantically involved couple who, in reality, have separate spouses and families on whom they are virtually cheating; a woman who seems to make the bulk of her real world income by selling her virtual designer clothes and homes to other Second Life users, never having to leave her home; and a Second Life addict who explored cross-gender role playing to a disturbing degree, driving a wedge in his real world relationship. By focusing on these intriguing characters rather than on the technology in and of itself, this compelling film successfully pulls off one important feat – more than speaking to the converted who already have their own avatars and virtual adventures, LIFE 2.0 engages audience members who have neither been on Second Life nor have ever had the inclination to spend any time there.
what (not) to doc 