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CULT! VIDEO GAMES: THE 10TH ART


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CULT! VIDEO GAMES: THE 10TH ART

Director Daniel Ablin
Writers
Serge July & Antoine de Gaudemar
Image Eric Genillier, Dominique Fausset
Sound Thierry Blandin
Editing Thomas Rouard
Format
HD Cam, 16/9e
Length
52 mins
Version
french
Copyrights
Folamour – 2014
Broadcaster
France 5

Intervenants :

  • Jean-Baptiste CLAIS, curator of the ” GAME STORY ” exhibition
  • William AUDUREAU, specialized journalist, author of ” The Mario Story “
  • Florent GORGES, specialised journalist, author of “The Nintendo Story”
  • Karyn POUPÉE, author of “History of Manga”
  • Dr Marc VALLEUR, Addictologist, Marmottan Hospital, Paris
  • Jordan MECHNER, author, video game creator
  • David CAGE, game designer, founder of QUANTIC DREAM
  • Philippe DUBOIS, President of the MO5 Association
  • Julian ALVAREZ, researcher and designer of serious games
  • WILL.I.AM, artist

Culture, which was formerly exclusive to elites, is now a powerful, globalized, and massive industry. From best sellers to blockbusters, many creations are now part of the collective imagination. They have achieved cult status. The four-part documentary series “Cult” recounts the fate of four founding productions of this mass popular culture: Mario Bros. and video games, Johnny Hallyday’s first outdoor concert and the giant concerts, Andy Warhol’s Marilyn silk screens and pop art, Dallas and television series.

Released in 1983 by the Japanese company Nintendo, the video game “Mario Bros.” has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide in its multiple versions. With its simplicity and technical quality, the adventures of Mario, the little New York sewer plumber, are still fascinating gamers around the world.

Once thought to be the preserve of teenagers, video games are now a mass leisure activity. Thousands of games are released every year, suited to all ages and preferences, available for consoles, PCs, tablets or Smartphones, always at the cutting edge of technology. In barely forty years, video games have become the world’s number one cultural industry, surpassing cinema. An entire economic sector was born out of nothing, with its multinationals and start-ups, and its new trades. Every year, blockbusters break records, without overwhelming an increasingly vibrant independent sector. Video games have created their heroes, their genres, their artists, and even their heritage. In spite of the controversies over its violence or misuse, video games have even become a serious tool. Today, it is used to recruit employees, to simulate surgical procedures, to manage a city. Moreover, it has developed a creative and aesthetic universe whose influence on cinema, advertising and graphic design is undeniable. Today, video games are as much an art-form as they are an industry.