Milan Machinima Festival 2025 Moves to Los Angeles

The Milan Machinima Festival, Italy's festival dedicated to machinima—films made within video games or using game engines—relocates to Los Angeles for its 2025 edition. The event will take place on March 20-21 at the Microcinema MUBI of Vidiots in Los Angeles, California, USA, with additional online screenings from March 17-22. Artistic director Matteo Bittanti described the move as a "literal reboot" in a new location. Online programming includes six short films in the EMERGING TALENTS I and II sections, featuring students from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, and Gianni Romeo's "Six: Dedicated to Kiarostami" (2025), a reinterpretation of Abbas Kiarostami's "Five: Dedicated to Ozu" (2003) within Grand Theft Auto V (Take Two, 2013). A highlight is the screening of two machinima based on the mod "Sightjacking" by the duo 2girls1comp (Marco De Mutiis and Alexandra Pfammatter). The mod, available publicly and freely for Grand Theft Auto V, alters the camera perspective to show the viewpoint of the nearest character (including animals) rather than the protagonist, creating a destabilizing, sometimes horrific effect inspired by the horror game "Forbidden Siren" (Sony, 2003). A live stream featuring the mod will be broadcast on March 23.