Thank You For Playing

A documentary film by David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall.

When one-year-old Joel is diagnosed with terminal cancer, his father Ryan begins working on an unusual and poetic video game to honor Joel's life. Following Ryan's family through the creation of the game and the day-to-day realities of Joel’s treatment, Thank You For Playing is a thought-provoking testimony to the empathetic power of art, examining how we process grief through technology in the twenty-first century, and the implications of documenting profound human experiences in a new artistic medium: the video game.

ABOUT THE FILM

When Ryan Green, a video game programmer, learns that his young son Joel has cancer, he and his wife begin documenting their emotional journey in the form of an unusually beautiful and poetic video game. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING follows Ryan and his family over two years through the creation of “That Dragon, Cancer” as it evolves from a cathartic exercise into a critically acclaimed work of art that sets the gaming industry abuzz. Lauded as "unimaginably intimate" by The New Yorker and "profoundly moving" by Indiewire, THANK YOU FOR PLAYING is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the ability of art and technology to document profound experiences in the modern age.

Directed and Produced by
David Osit & Malika Zouhali-Worrall

Made with support from: