Having recently screened at this year’s New York Film Festival, John Wilson‘s latest short form documentary, The Road to Magnasanti is available to stream through his Vimeo channel. If you’re familiar with Wilson’s work you’ll have an idea of what to expect here, and if you’re not, you’re in for a treat. In his most astute short yet, Wilson takes a look at a video containing the perfect game of Sim City and compares it to modern day New York, where neighborhoods are quickly losing their identity in lieu of high rise apartments and shared work spaces.
Give it a watch above and be sure to check out Wilson’s previous films as well- a personal favorite of mine is How To Live With Bed Bugs.
In 2010, an obsessed gamer designed the perfect game of Sim City. Achieved through a repeating pattern of clustered high rises, “Magnasanti” exposes the hellish consequences of top-down civic design. In his new documentary, John Wilson explores how New York City is creeping closer and closer to realizing this fictional metropolis.
