It was a red carpet weekend for James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, the Canadian hipster-glasses-wearing directors of Indie Game: The Movie. Just days after learning their video game documentary had caught the attention of HBO execs, the pair were in the news again this Saturday for taking home the prize for Best Editing in the World Cinema Documentary category.
“We can not tell you how much this means to us and how completely and utterly our minds are blown,” the team wrote on their site. “We shot over 300 hours of footage in making this film, and the edit was, by far, the most difficult aspect of the process. We couldn’t be more proud to receive this award.”
While Indie Game: The Movie didn't nab the biggest trophy in the World Cinema Documentary category (those honors fell to the US drug documentary The House I Live In), the Best Editing nod is more than enough to put James and Lisanne on the map, and nudge the video gaming industry even further into the mainstream spotlight. It also gives HBO more incentive to go forward with its previously announced intentions to develop the indie gaming film into a half hour dramatic series.
“The festival’s belief in this little film has very much changed our lives. It’s been amazing, hugely educational and most importantly, endlessly inspiring,” wrote the directors.
Indie Game: The Movie is scheduled to play to sold out audiences in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) this weekend. Further shows will be added if enough fans ask for it on the doc's Facebook page.
