French advertising film org Unifrance The first ever full-length film will debut on Mining craft from this year MyMetaStories Film festival.

This second edition of the digital festival, which runs from October 11 to November 3 on over 30 VOD platforms, as well as October 18 to 21 on Minecraft, will embrace online youth on their own terms, showcasing seven feature films and thirteen short films from across Europe, with half of the projects being made by women directors.

“This carefully curated, eclectic selection invites viewers to explore contemporary European cinema in all its diversity, both in terms of format and content,” says the executive director of Unifrance. Daniela Elstner. “MyMetaStories, a programme of dramas, comedies and genre films, reflects the fresh, sharp vision of a generation of European directors who play with the codes of world cinema and [who engage with contemporary society.”]

By creating new approaches to online gaming platforms, including a virtual cinema built like a city in Minecraft, the festival aims to forge a completely unique distribution route. MyMetaStories will also be a force on Twitch and Discord, and the organisers have teamed up with 25 international influencers to help spread the word about continental cinema.

“By combining cinema and video games, we have a dual goal,” says Elstner. “Firstly, we want to show a wide range of European films to audiences that might not otherwise see them. Secondly, we want to test the potential for intersection between these two different worlds and stimulate the growth of intersection between them. In this way, MyMetaStories connects generations, cultures, creative expressions, platforms and cultural industries.”

Through the Minecraft platform, participants can watch films in cinemas specially created for each film, play mini-games and connect with like-minded people from around the world, while bridging the worlds of gaming and European filmmaking. The first ever Minecraft film festival, highlighting 13 animated and live-action shorts available for free and in three languages, will celebrate the occasion with David Verbeek’s Cannes-selected film RU There as the first film to be screened in this world.

Together, the seven feature-length films selected boast festival laurels in Toronto, Cannes, Berlin, Karlovy Vary and Locarno and will offer subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, while the shorts have been planned with accessibility in mind, and many are dialogue-free.

Below is this year's selection. Additional information can be found on the program website.

Functions

After the Fire by Mehdi Fikri (France, 2022)

“Grand Paris” by Martin Jovat (France, 2022)

“The Invisible Struggle” by Rainer Sarnet (Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Finland, 2023)

“Baby” by Zara Dwinger (Netherlands, 2023)

“RU There”, David Verbeek (Netherlands, France, Taiwan, 2010)

“Lost Children” by Michel Jacob (Belgium, 2023)

“The Sun” by Kurdvin Ayoub (Austria, 2022)

Animated short films

“Boom”, Gabriel Ogerai, Romain Ogier, Laurie Pereira de Figueiredo, Charles Di Cicco, Yannick Jacquin (France, 2022)

“Criss-Cross” by Nina Rybarova, Tomas Rybar (Slovakia, Czech Republic, 2023)