The Institute
“Is it a cult? Is it a game? Or is it a life-changing adventure...”
Thousands of participants in a San Francisco-based alternate reality game end up getting more than they bargained for. Told from the players’ perspectives, the film looks over the precipice at an emergent new art form where the real world and fictional narratives merge to create unforeseen and often unsettling consequences. Examining counter-culture, new religious movements and street art, this film takes the viewer on a journey into a secret underground world teeming just beneath the surface of everyday life.
This documentary pulls you into a hidden world where games blur the lines of reality. It’s a fascinating, sometimes unsettling, look at how art and community can create intense, emergent experiences just beneath the surface of everyday life.
