We may be a good half-a-year away from the Oscars, but buzz around inspiring documentary “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” has been rising steadily since its premiere at Sundance back in January.
The documentary, which was later acquired by Netflix, won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary category at the festival.
“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” (originally known as just “Ibelin”) tells the true story of quadriplegic gamer Mats Steen, who died from a degenerative disorder at age 25. The grieving process of Steen’s parents is paired with a dynamic integration of Steen’s personal blog, text messages between friends in the gaming community, and archives of his “World of Warcraft” campaigns to share a life that had been hidden away in the virtual world. Benjamin Ree “The Painter and the Thief” director Benjamin Ree helms the film.
Using the buff, Hemsworth-like avatar of Ibelin Redwood, Steen built an entire community online within the role-playing multiplayer game “World of Warcraft,” but kept it a secret from his parents and sister for most of his life. To them, he was an isolated boy ravaged by disease, with each year of his life worse than the next until all he was physically capable of doing was moving his fingers.
But upon his passing, an outpouring of support from friends Steen had met on the internet came forth, revealing a history of deep, fulfilling relationships that kept Steen going.
In a similar sense to how he behaved with his parents, Steen only shared so much about himself with his gaming peers, instead choosing to provide a safe space where others could come and be open about themselves and their issues. The documentary weaves between archival footage of Steen growing up and the challenges he faced as his body failed him and moments from his time as Ibelin, recreated from memories and social media posts using “WoW” style animation and voice actors. Together, the pieces try to put together some kind of understanding of who Steen/Ibelin was and in the process, creates a piece of cinema that will make him last forever.
Watch the trailer below.
“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” streams on Netflix October 25.
