Dinner with Jag En Vinnare (I Was a Winner)

Interview with Jonas Odell, director of Jag Var En Vinnare (I Was a Winner)

 What interested you in the theme of game addiction?
There were two starting points for the idea for the film. One was something I remembered from years back, when we used to have a Playstation game console set up in the place where I worked. People used to play for a while and then get back to work. The game they played was usually Grand Theft Auto, where the main character is this quite aggressive guy who pulls people out of cars and drives off. When the player left the game, this very self confident character suddenly just stood there hanging his head and taking a few aimless steps back and forth. Somehow, I found that image quite moving – the usually confident hero of the game suddenly looking quite lost…
The other starting point was me reading about game addiction. It struck me that, although there were quite a number of articles on the subject, you never heard the stories of the addicts themselves. It was usually interviews with experts, psychologists or worried parents but never the people directly affected. I simply got curious to hear the stories that I missed in the media.

 How did you work on the testimonies, were they recorded on the spot?
In all the interview films that we have done, we have started by interviewing a number of people. Maybe one third of those were selected to be in the film – not necessarily because they were the “best” stories, but rather to get a good mix in the film.
I started editing the audio interviews, and during the editing process we went back and interviewed the person again to capture things that we felt we missed or just trying to tell the story more efficiently.
On one hand, the editing process is a bit like writing a script – giving the material a narrative structure. On the other hand I always try to respect the person whose story we are retelling, and try to get what I think they want to say come across.

 How did you create the beautiful scenes and avatars?
I worked with some great people. We based the characters very loosely on the games the people interviewed were playing in terms of setting and general feel, but created our own designs inspired by those games.

 Are you interested in the theme of mankind’s future and its relation to technology? Do you have more projects in mind that will explore this relationship?
It is an interesting theme indeed, but I don’t have any projects lined up at the moment on that subject.

 What films have inspired you this year?
Not much has passed of the year (1 month) but I did like Manchester by the sea.

 If you’ve already been to the Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote or story from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this edition?
I’m afraid I haven’t been there yet, and sadly won’t be able to attend this year either.

Jag Var En Vinnare is being shown in Lab Competition L4.