Winners Will be Announced at Ceremony and Showcase at SXSW 2024
December 4, 2023
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Anima ppd-interactive :
NEW YORK, NY, December 1, 2023 — Cinereach, the media not-for-profit behind Academy Award® nominees Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Beasts of the Southern Wild, today announced their inaugural video game activation, Just Play: A Game Jam for Justice. This game-development competition with a $10,000 grand prize is designed to challenge and inspire game makers, artists, and developers to create new video games and prototypes rooted in themes of justice.
The Just Play submissions will be reviewed by industry heavyweights who hail from Xbox, WINGS, Raw Fury, and more. The jam will culminate with an awards ceremony and game showcase in March at SXSW 2024.
“We are excited to share what we’ve uncovered through our unique research model of exploring complicated themes like justice,” said Cinereach CEO Jennifer Strachan. “Cinereach is invested in what gaming storytellers have known all along — that interactivity and entertainment are incredible vehicles capable of shifting hearts and minds. With the Just Play game jam, we intend to amplify the understanding and interpretation of justice through gameplay and interactive narrative and are eager to see this community’s creativity in action.”
The organization’s inaugural foray into interactive media will be produced in collaboration with anticipated new immersive media studio Anima Interactive, a collective of socially conscious developers. Anima Interactive debuts with this partnership to showcase the power of games for positive social and cultural change. As co-producers of the jam, Anima Interactive brings their experience across social impact, creative technology, media, and video games to help foster a community of like-minded artists and advocates.
"We are thrilled to partner with Cinereach on Just Play, a pioneering initiative to push the boundaries of narrative and culture change through games," expressed Karla Reyes, founder and Studio Director, Anima Interactive. "With over 3 billion gamers globally and growing larger than film, television, and music combined, video games have an immense and unparalleled platform to inspire and ignite real-world impact. We're excited and honored to co-produce this project that empowers creators to explore bold and profound themes such as justice and harness the transformative power of interactive media."
The Just Play game jam kicks off on December 1, 2023, and runs through January 6, 2024, where developers create and submit new video game prototypes that span a variety of justice-related themes: community, ecological, economic, health, narrative, post-colonial, spiritual, and technology. To spark ideas and encourage innovation around the themes, Cinereach and Anima Interactive will share insights and host virtual community events open to game jam participants during the submission period, exploring creative expressions of justice in games and other entertainment media. Creators are encouraged to submit games that use narratives, aesthetics, and gameplay to explore justice in ways that challenge the status quo and inspire new perspectives.
Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges composed of professional game developers, narrative change experts, and other creatives working across various media. Finalists will be announced in February 2024 and be featured at an official awards ceremony at SXSW on March 9, 2024. Select winners will also be spotlighted at the SXSW Creative Industries Expo showcase March 10-13. Certain finalists may also be invited to participate in a workshop hosted by Cinereach to further develop their prototypes.
The inaugural Just Play: A Game Jam for Justice is pleased to have the support of the following community partners: IGDA, Global Game Jam, and Games for Change.
Individuals or teams interested in participating in Just Play: A Game Jam for Justice can find more information at justplayjam.com.
About Cinereach
Cinereach is a not-for-profit media lab exploring the cultivation of a more just, equitable and resilient world through story. We are working to revolutionize the narrative process, improving how stories are made and understood, seeking to bridge the gap between social impact storytelling and popular entertainment in film, television, interactive and other media.
Originally founded in 2006 as a film foundation and production company, Cinereach has produced acclaimed and award-winning films including Academy Award®-nominees Beasts of the Southern Wild and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and supported more than 200 others. Learn more at Cinereach.org.
About Anima Interactive
Anima Interactive is a new socially conscious interactive media studio that fuses art and technology to craft immersive experiences that ignite positive cultural change. They are currently developing a game for a children’s BBC/Netflix series, among other R&D projects.
Media contact:
Molly Engelberg, Zebra Partners
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