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OUT OF BOUNDS is a film program that takes a cue from ICED!: I Can End Deportation (2008), a role-playing video game in the ArteArchive that educates players on immigration laws on detention and deportation that affect legal permanent residents, asylum seekers, students, and undocumented people in the U.S.
The program comprises recent shorts by filmmakers Yanni Mohand Briki, Bahareh Khoshooee, Sara Sadik, and Firas Shehadeh, who take different approaches to retooling gaming software and their aesthetics. Presented together, their works showcase a range of potentials present in gaming as a mass medium–education, entertainment, escape, world building–and through modding and aesthetic interventions, the ability to also hijack meaning.
Bahareh Khoshooee’s MAXMOTIVES: Episode 1 (2020) is an ongoing web series that follows the life of seven alter egos and an unwanted newborn “non-resident alien,” filmed and produced in The Sims 2 video game.
Part of Firas Shehadeh’s ongoing research into video games and Palestinian youth culture, Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another — Rehearsal (2023) combines footage of Twitch streamers and custom game mods for Grand Theft Auto V to explore how players simulate life under occupation.
Also using Grand Theft Auto V, Sara Sadik’s Khtobtogone (2021) is a character study of protagonist Zine, who wrestles with heartbreak while reflecting more broadly on masculinity and coming of age in Marseille’s Maghrebi community.
The program closes with Yannis Mohand Briki’s Yesterday was my birthday so I asked for legs to run away (2025), which considers the fate of video game characters left behind by players, serving as both a meditation on virtual obsolescence and an elegy for the optimism of the late 2000s.
OUT OF BOUNDS is co-presented by ArteEast and Millennium Film Workshop, and guest curated by May Makki. This program is part of ArteEast’s legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which presents films from the ArteArhive in dialogue with contemporary voices. The films will be screened in-person at Millennium Film Workshop on June 17th followed by a discussion with Bahareh Khoshooee moderated by the curator.
Original program materials by ArteEast licensed under CC BY 4.0. This does not apply to films or third-party content.
Khtobtogone is an intimate portrait of Zine, a 20-year-old young man striving to become the best version of himself before asking his girlfriend to marry him. Created using machinima with the Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) engine, the film follows Zine through his daily life, exploring his romantic relationships, friendships, and emotional struggles. He is torn between his desire to find self-love, gain confidence, and live up to his personal expectations. Inspired by the story of Ahmed Ra’ad Al Hamid, Khtobtogone uses the virtual world of the game to reflect the challenges of a man seeking to realize himself while confronting his aspirations and uncertainties. Through this digital universe, the film illustrates his efforts to overcome his weaknesses and find his place, while being caught in his own contradictions.
- Year2021
- Runtime16 minutes
- LanguageFrench
- CountryFrance
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorSara Sadik
- ScreenwriterSara Sadik
- ProducerCNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques)
- CastIdir Azougli (VO)
- EditorEdouard Mailaender
- ComposerUgo Toledano
- Sound DesignUgo Toledano
- MusicUgo Toledano
OUT OF BOUNDS is a film program that takes a cue from ICED!: I Can End Deportation (2008), a role-playing video game in the ArteArchive that educates players on immigration laws on detention and deportation that affect legal permanent residents, asylum seekers, students, and undocumented people in the U.S.
The program comprises recent shorts by filmmakers Yanni Mohand Briki, Bahareh Khoshooee, Sara Sadik, and Firas Shehadeh, who take different approaches to retooling gaming software and their aesthetics. Presented together, their works showcase a range of potentials present in gaming as a mass medium–education, entertainment, escape, world building–and through modding and aesthetic interventions, the ability to also hijack meaning.
Bahareh Khoshooee’s MAXMOTIVES: Episode 1 (2020) is an ongoing web series that follows the life of seven alter egos and an unwanted newborn “non-resident alien,” filmed and produced in The Sims 2 video game.
Part of Firas Shehadeh’s ongoing research into video games and Palestinian youth culture, Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another — Rehearsal (2023) combines footage of Twitch streamers and custom game mods for Grand Theft Auto V to explore how players simulate life under occupation.
Also using Grand Theft Auto V, Sara Sadik’s Khtobtogone (2021) is a character study of protagonist Zine, who wrestles with heartbreak while reflecting more broadly on masculinity and coming of age in Marseille’s Maghrebi community.
The program closes with Yannis Mohand Briki’s Yesterday was my birthday so I asked for legs to run away (2025), which considers the fate of video game characters left behind by players, serving as both a meditation on virtual obsolescence and an elegy for the optimism of the late 2000s.
OUT OF BOUNDS is co-presented by ArteEast and Millennium Film Workshop, and guest curated by May Makki. This program is part of ArteEast’s legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which presents films from the ArteArhive in dialogue with contemporary voices. The films will be screened in-person at Millennium Film Workshop on June 17th followed by a discussion with Bahareh Khoshooee moderated by the curator.
Original program materials by ArteEast licensed under CC BY 4.0. This does not apply to films or third-party content.
Khtobtogone is an intimate portrait of Zine, a 20-year-old young man striving to become the best version of himself before asking his girlfriend to marry him. Created using machinima with the Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) engine, the film follows Zine through his daily life, exploring his romantic relationships, friendships, and emotional struggles. He is torn between his desire to find self-love, gain confidence, and live up to his personal expectations. Inspired by the story of Ahmed Ra’ad Al Hamid, Khtobtogone uses the virtual world of the game to reflect the challenges of a man seeking to realize himself while confronting his aspirations and uncertainties. Through this digital universe, the film illustrates his efforts to overcome his weaknesses and find his place, while being caught in his own contradictions.
- Year2021
- Runtime16 minutes
- LanguageFrench
- CountryFrance
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorSara Sadik
- ScreenwriterSara Sadik
- ProducerCNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques)
- CastIdir Azougli (VO)
- EditorEdouard Mailaender
- ComposerUgo Toledano
- Sound DesignUgo Toledano
- MusicUgo Toledano