The game of death is inspired by the news about the challenge called 'The blue whale', which originated on social media in May 2016 and encouraged teenagers to take on 50 challenges in 50 days. The last of them was suicide. Russian director Anna Zaytseva answered some questions from La República, which her production team sent her. Cinta is already in movie theaters.
—Your film is fiction, but it addresses a real problem.
—I came across this story in the news a few years ago. So when I received it as a script, it resonated immediately. I wanted to understand how it happens: how children and teenagers can get hooked online and be manipulated so easily. We did a lot of research and also consulted with psychologists who dealt with these cases.
—Was it difficult to develop the story?
—It is easy for me to work with adolescent issues. I'm probably still carrying my teenage traumas or maybe I'm not even grown up yet. Therefore, I understand the loneliness and dramas of these children. Now I'm working through my teenage traumas in my films.
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—The danger, now, is not only in the streets, but on the internet.
—The Internet and technologies have provided unlimited access to knowledge, communication and self-expression. But these things have two sides: on the one hand, you can learn everything that interests you; but, on the other hand, you gain access to information that may be harmful or subject to manipulation. If there is access to any information, there is a demand for illegal or explicit content. You may interact with people on the internet, meet someone new, find people with the same interests and find yourself under enormous pressure while watching someone else's 'perfect' life, or fall victim to scams or cyberbullying. When we were kids, we went to theater groups to express ourselves, and kids today make videos on Tiktok, have podcasts and blogs, and that's cool. But then it turns out that they have no qualms about doing questionable things just to get more likes and views. Although the film is quite harsh, it is a must-see for teenagers and their parents. It is a movie for everyone who spends hours online and on social media.
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