IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2018 - 17

The directors of the "Thank You for
Playing" documentary were David Osit
and Malika Zouhali-Worrall. In a state-
ment, they noted: "Ryan and Amy's
video game, 'That Dragon, Cancer'
comes at a time when video games
and interactive media are emerg-
ing as a wildly innovative art form. And
yet simultaneously, society is ques-
tioning our dependence on technol-
ogy more than ever: it seems to be
bringing us at once closer together
and yet further apart. [As Directors,] we
are fascinated by this tension, which is
why we set out to make this film.
"From the moment we first heard
about "That Dragon, Cancer," we
immediately wanted to know more
about why Ryan and Amy had cho-
sen a video game - a medium so
often associated with explosions
and violence - to convey one of the
most emotional and spiritually-chal-
lenging experiences a family can go
through. Once we saw for ourselves
how many people were profoundly
moved by the game, and how play-
ing it often facilitated more, rather
than less, social interaction, we were
hooked and knew we had to keep fol-
lowing this story. The fact that a video
game was capable of awakening this

president's message

sort of empathy to allow players to
join Ryan and Amy on their journey
astounded us, and we soon realized
that Ryan isn't only a video game
developer, he's also an artist - and
programming is his paintbrush.
"Thank You for Playing explores
the very personal experiences of a
family battling cancer, and the beauty
and hope that can be found in the
artistic process, while also examin-
ing the age-old question of where
the boundaries lie in representing
difficult emotional experiences in
art. Ultimately, we hope [Thank You
for Playing] the film will challenge

Author Information
Shoshana Eilon is Director of Distri-
bution at Film Platform, London, U.K.
Email: shoshana@filmplatform.net.

(continued from page 1)

a previous offer to volunteer, please
accept my sincere apologies and
contact me again so I can assist you.

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Call for Donations,
Gifts, and Bequests

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SSIT's 2018 fundraising campaign is
focused on securing the level of
resources required to scale activities
over the coming years. Funds will be
invested in further strengthening
and expanding volunteer activities.
Options to financially support SSIT
volunteer activities include:
■ Donate to SSIT online https://
ieeefoundation.org/ieee_ssit.
JUNE 2018

people to reexamine their own assump-
tions about bereavement, technology,
video games, and art."
The "That Dragon, Cancer" game
can be found at thatdragoncancer
.com. Thank You for Playing ap -
peared at the Tribeca Film Festival in
2015, and is available for download at
http://www.thankyouforplayingfilm
.com/watch/.

■

■

■

∕

Mail a check payable to the
"IEEE Foundation - SSIT Fund"
to: IEEE Foundation, 445 Hoes
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U.S.A.
Asking your employer to match
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Donate in honor or memory of
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

Author Information
Paul M. Cunningham, 2017-2018
IEEE-SSIT President, is President &
CEO, IIMC (Ireland); Director, IST-
Africa Institute (www.IST-Africa.org);
Adjunct/Visiting Professor, Interna-
tional University of Management
(Namibia); and Visiting Senior Fellow,
Wrexham Glyndw
ˆ r University (Wales).
He is 2018 Chair, IEEE Humanitari-
an Activities Committee and serves
on the IEEE Global Public Policy
Committee. Email: pcunningham@
ieee.org.

17
http://www.thankyouforplayingfilm.com/watch http://www.IST-Africa.org http://www.ieeefoundation.org/ieee_ssit http://www.ieeefoundation.org/ieee_ssit
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2018
