E very day, tens of thousands of people roam through the dystopian universe of DayZ , a popular online game in which players strive to survive a zombie outbreak. Immersing themselves as participants and observers, film-makers Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L’Helgouac’h find strange beauty in this post-apocalyptic world filled with brutality and bloodshed. Their documentary is built entirely around in-game footage, interactions and POV shots, capturing a seemingly endless realm with infinite possibilities.
As an open-world game, DayZ has no set objectives – apart from the obvious goal of staying alive – and players are allowed to build their own adventure, or to simply drift. Many organically form close-knit factions. The film-makers encounter one such group whose masked, gun