Immersive Doc ‘Stay Alive, My Son’ Uses Compassion to Spur Action
variety.comBen Croll Prosecutor-turned-immersive storyteller Victoria Bousis has seen the often-separate strands of her professional lives converge in unexpected ways as she’s toured her recent project, “Stay Alive, My Son.” Using Cineplay – a mix of cinema with gameplay mechanics – the immersive experience adapts the memoires of human rights activist Pin Yathay, allowing users to embody Yathay’s story of heartbreak and hope through the Cambodian genocide.
After premiering out of South by Southwest and playing Venice Immersive, “Stay Alive, My Son” showcased at this week’s NewImages Festival in Paris and was recently selected for Annecy’s VR competition in June.
Threading a personal narrative through evocations of wider historical atrocity, the project has also made an impact beyond the XR festival circuit, and was invited by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to screen for diplomats, NGO bigwigs and heads of state in a bid to shape global policy. “From my own experience as a lawyer, I know how files can build on top of files,” says Bousis. “That can only lead to a growing desensitization, as you become further removed, forgetting that these files aren’t just filled with words — they represent human beings and real, lived experiences.” Bousis studied up ahead of her U.N.
presentation, learning of the key elements that prevent most refugee reunifications before deploying her project to spur positive action. “We wanted to give these cases a human face, showing what really happened to this beautiful family,” she says. “They were torn apart, and hopefully that encourages those entities and organizations to help reunite and preserve more families.
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