THANK YOU FOR PLAYING

DIRECTED BY DAVID OSIT & MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL

WORLD PREMIERE: 2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL Friday April 17th, 5:45pm

Saturday April 18th, 6:15pm Tuesday April 21st, 6:45pm Thursday April 23rd, 5:45pm

All screenings followed by Q&A with the filmmakers and subjects of the film

OFFICIAL MOVIE SITE: http://thankyouforplayingfilm.com 80 MINUTES / ENGLISH

PRESS CONTACT: Adam Segal The 2050 Group Cell: (202) 422-4673 adam@the2050group.com

SALES CONTACT: Philippa Kowarsky & Heather Wyer Cinephil info@cinephil.co.il

SUMMARY: When one-year-old Joel is diagnosed with terminal cancer, his father Ryan begins working on an unusual and poetic video game to honor Joel's life. Following Ryan's family through the creation of the game and the day-to-day realities of Joel’s treatment, David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall's latest film is a thought-provoking testimony to the empathetic power of art, examining how we process grief through technology in the twenty-first century, and the implications of documenting profound human experiences in a new artistic medium: the video game.

SYNOPSIS: Four years ago, Ryan and Amy Green learned that their baby son Joel’s rare cancer was terminal – they were devastated. Searching for a way to explore his feelings, Ryan, an indie video game developer, found solace in the most appropriate creative outlet he knew: a video game. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING follows Ryan as he creates a game called “That Dragon, Cancer,” and recruits his wife and sons into the process of documenting their daily life for this unusual work of art. His video game is a poetic exploration of a father’s relationship with his son, an interactive painting, a vivid window into the mind of a grieving parent. Throughout his creative process, Ryan must decide where to draw the line in sharing his family’s experiences of raising a dying child. From having his sons reenact difficult conversations, to recording Joel’s giggle, to painstakingly photographing every detail of the hospital, Ryan’s life becomes consumed by the complicated process of creating a digital world that mirrors his own. Combining footage from both Ryan’s real and animated worlds, THANK YOU FOR PLAYING follows his journey of encoding his life into an experience that is “playable” by others, as he continues to care for his son.

The film’s U.S. television broadcast premiere on POV Is scheduled for Summer 2016.

MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM:

DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT

Ryan and Amy’s video game, “That Dragon, Cancer” comes at a time when video games and interactive media are emerging as a wildly innovative art form, even as society is questioning humans’ relationship with, and dependence on, technology. We are fascinated by this tension, which is why we set out to make this film. From the moment we first heard about “That Dragon, Cancer”, we immediately wanted to know more about why Ryan and Amy had chosen a video game--a medium so often associated with explosions and violence--to convey one of the most emotional, personal and private experiences a family can go through. Once we saw for ourselves how many people were profoundly moved by the game, and how playing it often facilitated more, rather than less, social interaction, we were hooked and knew we had to keep following this story. The fact that a video game was capable of awakening this sort of empathy astounded us, and we soon realized that Ryan isn’t only a video game developer, he’s also an artist - and programming is his paintbrush. Thank You For Playing explores the very personal experiences of a family dealing with cancer, and the beauty and hope that can be found in art, while also examining the age-old question of where the boundaries lie in representing difficult emotional experiences in art. Ultimately, we hope the film will challenge people to re-examine their own assumptions about bereavement, technology, video games, and art.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

DAVID OSIT is a documentary film director, editor and composer. His work has appeared on networks such as Arte, PBS, TLC, Al-Jazeera America and Channel4. David’s first feature documentary film BUILDING BABEL which he produced, directed, shot, edited and composed, was a recipient of ITVS Open Call funding, broadcast as the series premiere of PBS America Reframed in 2013, and played at film festivals worldwide, including True/False and DocNYC. David was co-producer, composer and sound recorder on WHERE HEAVEN MEETS HELL,

which broadcast on PBS Global Voices in 2013 and premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). David is an alumnus of the Tribeca Film Institute’s All Access Program and the True/False SWAMI program. He received his bachelorʼs degree at the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, and studied Refugee Law at the American University of Cairo. David is a recipient of the Anthony Rhodes Vice Presidential Scholarship and received his MFA in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts in New York. For more info visit: www.davidosit.com

MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL is an award-winning filmmaker of British/Moroccan origin. She is one of the directors and the producer of CALL ME KUCHU (2012), a documentary that depicts the last year in the life of the first openly gay man in Uganda, David Kato. The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary and the Cinema Fairbindet Prize. It has since won 18 more awards—including Best International Feature at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival—and has been theatrically distributed in

Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. Malika is a Chaz & Roger Ebert Directing Fellow and an alumnus of the Film Independent Documentary Lab, the Tribeca All Access program, the Firelight Producers Lab, and the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant at Full Frame Documentary Festival. In 2012, Filmmaker Magazine named Malika one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Malika is a graduate of Cambridge University, and holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), where she studied with a full scholarship from the Entente Cordiale Scholarship Scheme. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, journalist Andy Greenberg. For more info visit: www.malikazw.com

 ABOUT THE GAME

 "That Dragon, Cancer" is currently being developed by Ryan & Amy Green and Josh Larson along with five others at their new studio Numinous Games. As the Numinous team describe it: “That Dragon, Cancer” is a videogame developer's love letter to his son; an immersive adventure game to inspire love for others; a memorial for hundreds who have fought cancer. It is a poetic and playful interactive retelling of Joel Green’s 4-year fight against cancer, and an autobiographical memoir of how parents Ryan and Amy embrace hope in the face of death. The game is set for release in Fall 2015. Alongside the film’s world premiere, excerpts of the video game “That Dragon, Cancer” will be available to play at the festival as part of the Tribeca Film Institute’s Interactive Playground at Spring Studios on Saturday, April 18th. Contact us to arrange a time to play the game and meet Ryan and his team: press@the2050group.com.

 

CREDITS

IN MEMORY OF JOEL EVAN GREEN

DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY

DAVID OSIT & MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL

EDITED BY DAVID OSIT & MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL

CINEMATOGRAPHER & COMPOSER

DAVID OSIT

FEATURING ORIGINAL MATERIAL FROM THE GAME “THAT DRAGON, CANCER”:

ANIMATION

RYAN COUSINS RYAN GREEN JOSH LARSON

ORIGINAL GAME SCORE

JON HILLMAN

CONSULTING EDITOR ERIC DANIEL METZGAR

ADDITIONAL EDITING

ALEX MEILLIER

GRAPHIC DESIGN ALEX MEILLIER

ADDITIONAL CAMERA

AMY GREEN RYAN GREEN

MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL SASHA FRIEDLANDER

PRODUCTION SOUND

MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL DAVID OSIT

ADDITIONAL SOUND

SASHA FRIEDLANDER

OUTREACH & DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR ANDREA BETANZOS

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS IVY JAFF

NATALIE RUIZ TOFANO

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR ITVS SALLY JO FIFER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY | POV

SIMON KILMURRY

SUPERVISING SOUND EDITORS TOM EFINGER, JEFF SEELYE, AND ABIGAIL SAVAGE

SOUND DESIGNER ABIGAIL SAVAGE

DIALOGUE EDITOR

JEFF SEELYE

FOLEY ARTIST SHAUN BRENNAN

FOLEY RECORDIST

JEFF SEELYE

SOUND EDITORS COLIN THIBADEAU JAMES PANEPINTO

SPENCER HALL

RE-RECORDING MIXER TOM EFINGER

AUDIO POST FACILITY

DIG IT AUDIO

AUDIO POST PRODUCER COLIN THIBADEAU

DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE COLORIST

WILL COX

DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE ONLINE EDITOR SANDY PATCH

DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE PRODUCER

CAITLIN TARTARO

POST PRODUCTION SERVICES FINAL FRAME

LEGAL COUNSEL FERNANDO RAMIREZ

DEBRA MAYER

BOOKKEEPING MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL

MELISSA BERTONCINI

PUBLICITY ADAM J. SEGAL, THE 2050 GROUP

WORLD SALES

PHILIPPA KOWARSKY, CINEPHIL

SPECIAL THANKS CALEB HELLER

IYABO BOYD RYAN COUSINS

ANDY GREENBERG AMANDA HILLMAN

JON HILLMAN JOSH LARSON

MIKE PERROTTO STEPHANIE GREEN

THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HOSPITAL FAMILY HOUSE SAN FRANCISCO

UCSF BENIOFF CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL --

THE FILMMAKERS WOULD LIKE TO THANK RYAN, AMY AND THE ENTIRE GREEN FAMILY, AS WELL AS THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM BEHIND “THAT

DRAGON, CANCER”

THANKS

AL ATTARA JULIE BENELLO

NIKI BHATTACHARYA LYRIC CABRAL

PILAR HAILE DAMATO MARIAM DWEDAR

N’JERI EATON WENDY ETTINGER PENELOPE FALK

ALEX HAGON JAMES HALL

ALEX HANNIBAL RYAN HARRINGTON

JUDITH HELFAND JASON ISHIKAWA

ADRIANNE JEFFRIES

BAO NGUYEN MONA NICOARA

BENJAMIN NIMKIN NICOLE OPPER

KAREN OSIT STEVEN OSIT

BURHAN QURBANI YORUBA RICHEN

JOSE RODRIGUEZ DAN SCHOENBRUN

MARTHA SHANE JASON SPINGARN-KOFF DAVID FELIX SUTCLIFFE

SHANA SWANSON NICOLE TSIEN

JORGE TRELLES

INGRID KOPP ADAM KURNITZ

JENNIFER KUSHNER ADELLA LADJEVARDI

ANGELA LEE LOIRA LIMBAL

ERIN MACAVOY TANYA MEILLIER

MICHELLE MOGHTADER STANLEY NELSON

LYNN TRUE JAMIN WARREN PATRICK WANG ADAM WEBER JOSH WELSH CHRIS WHITE

JAMILA WIGNOT STEVE WORRALL

KENZA ZOUHALI-HAGON NAIMA ZOUHALI-WORRALL

MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM:

Independent Television Service (ITVS)

American Documentary | POV Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

Chicken & Egg Pictures Cinephil

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Firelight Media

Film Independent Independent Filmmaker Project

Tribeca Film Institute, Tribeca All Access

FISCAL SPONSOR Independent Filmmaker Project

Video Game Footage courtesy of "That Dragon, Cancer"

“DAYLIGHT” Written and Performed by Vitaly Beskrovny

“IN THE DEVIL'S TERRITORY”

Written and Performed by Sufjan Stevens Published by New Jerusalem Music

Thank You For Playing is a co-production of Kinematic Films LLC and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public

Broadcasting (CPB).

This program was produced by Kinematic Films LLC which is solely responsible for its content.

© KINEMATIC FILMS LLC 2015. All Rights Reserved.