Displaced

Director El-Khoury interviews her mother about her time during the Lebanese Civil War, how her life was before and after she had to leave the country. To illustrate crucial questions such as “what do you miss the most”, El-Khoury uses images from a totally imaginary world: the video game Final Fantasy XIV. Displacement in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

“Machinima”, where real-time computer graphics engines are used to create a cinematic production, is a fascinating genre, acknowledging videogames as an aesthetic on its own. El-Khoury uses it with fascinating effects, creating a distancing with the harrowing, stranger-than-fiction ordeals described and, at the same time, a longing for a fabled, long-gone land. A “final fantasy” indeed. Burning medieval cities, starry nights and deep forests compose a geography as a shelter for hopes and memories. When it was first published in 2010, Final Fantasy XIV was panned for giving the impression it was unfinished. Displaced gives it a sense of closure.