PlayStation and Kojima Productions produced this documentary film hand in hand to examine the figure of Hideo Kojima – but also to extol his merits, given the rave comments from his partners in the trailer. “The most emblematic game designer in the profession“(Shigeru Miyamoto will appreciate it), “widely considered the first author of video games“, the father of Metal Gear comes here to testify to the development of Death Stranding, emphasizing the economic challenges of independence. Among the speakers, we obviously find Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus, but also CHVRCHΞS, Woodkid, Nicholas Winding Refn, Grimes, George Miller and others.
Behind the scenes
Behind the camera is documentary filmmaker Glen Milner, best known to the general public for his in-depth making-of Star Wars: Rogue One (available on the blu-ray version). Milner has also been frequently featured by National Geographic (The Horsemen, Return of the Sun) and by the BBC (Handmade: Steinway & Sons) on shorter formats. Its visual style is easily distinguished in the trailer by very polished shots with impeccable composition, even if they had to be taken with a drone to frame the lights of a building at the perfect angle. A meticulous attention to form which will inevitably have pleased Kojima.
The documentary genre is increasingly interested in the world of video games, with some excellent productions broadcast in recent years. We think in particular of Bridging the Rift, which went behind the scenes of the Fortiche studio and the Arcane series, or the recent documentary on the twenty-five candles of Half-Life. On the interactivity side, Digital Eclipse explores hybrid forms through the excellent The Making of Karateka, for example, which includes prototypes, chronology and interviews to better understand the evolution of Jordan Mechner’s title.
Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds will stream exclusively on Disney+ in spring 2024.