web documentary
A web documentary, interactive documentary, or multimedia documentary is a documentary production that differs from the more traditional forms—video, audio, photographic—by applying a full complement of multimedia tools. The interactive multim ...
and
strategy video game
Strategy is a major video game genre that emphasizes thinking and planning over direct instant action in order to achieve victory. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, as a genre, strategy games are most commonly defi ...
about
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada and Athabasca oil sands development, directed by . The documentary uses interactive game elements to allow users to decide the city's future and attempt to responsibly develop the world's largest
oil sands
Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...
reserves.
Game play
The game consists of three episodes, each played in real-time over a four-week period. Starting November 25, users will decide on the virtual future of the city, while exploring the social, economic, political and cultural history of Fort McMurray. Players will be able to virtually walk around the city, meet residents and ask them questions. Each week, they'll be able to vote in referendums and surveys that will affect the city's virtual future, engage in debates, and attempt to win other players over to their "worldview" in order influence the city's development. The game is trilingual: available in English, French, and German.
Production
''Fort McMoney'' incorporates 60 days of filming in more than 22 locations in the city, including 55 interviews. Research took place over 2 years, with 2000 hours of footage shot, at a cost of C$870,000. It is a collaboration of the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
(NFB) and TOXA in association with
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...
. Dufresne has stated he is drawn to stories about single-industry towns, having previously directed an award-winning webdoc about Cañon City, Colorado, entitled ''Prison Valley''. The project features photographs by Philippe Brault. It was produced by Philippe Lamarre and Raphaëlle Huysmans (TOXA) and Hugues Sweeney and Dominique Willieme (NFB), in association with Arte.
Release
''Fort McMoney'' is being launched at the
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...
, with pre-launch events in Paris, Toronto and Montreal, as part of Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, an international documentary film festival. It will also be accessible online via four media partners: ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' and
Radio-Canada
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
in Canada, as well as France's ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' and Germany's '' Süddeutsche Zeitung''.
In February 2015, ''Fort McMoney'' was named Best Original Interactive Production Produced for Digital Media at the