Grand Theft Hamlet
Synopsis
It’s January 2021. The UK has just entered its 3rd lockdown and all theatres remain closed. For actors Sam and Mark, the future looks bleak. As the pandemic drags on Mark, who lives alone is increasingly socially isolated, while Sam is panicking about how he is going to support his family. They channel their midlife frustrations by immersing their avatars in the horrifically violent yet beautifully rendered virtual world of Grand Theft Auto online. They steal cars and shoot strangers, but also find moments of calm reflection walking through meadows of wildflowers. In one gaming session they stumble across a theatre and have an idea. Why not stage Hamlet inside the game? Well, there are several reasons why not, chiefly that most people in the game are intent on murderous destruction, not polite appreciation of a theatrical production. But wasn’t theatre just as dangerous and rowdy a business in Shakespeare’s time, and isn’t Hamlet, a play about revenge the perfect choice for this place?
Official selection SXSW 2024 - Documentary Competition - World premiere
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2024
Details
- Year
- 2024
- Type of project
- Features
- Running time
- 88 min
- Director
-
Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane 1st Feature
- Producer
- Julia Ton, Rebecca Wolff
- Editor
- Pinny Grylls
- Screenwriter
- Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane
- Director of Photography
- Pinny Grylls
- Sound
- Jamie Perera
- Associate Writer and Director
- Mark Oosterveen
Genre
Production Status
Production Company
Project 1961
Julia TonGrasp the Nettle Films
Rebecca WolffSales Company
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
Loss.y
Director: Lisa Jamhoury
Year: 2026
Situated at the physical-virtual threshold, loss·y memorializes corporeal passing and digital rebirth. The work intertwines animated sculptural “dances” with interactive spatial audio, inviting audiences to navigate invisible thresholds as they move. loss·y presents three split-seconds of a motion-captured female-female pas de deux: each moment is suspended in a vignette that overlaps projection and 3D prints encapsulating the dance in sculpture, with spoken-word poetry and spatial sound design. The installation’s audioscapes blend cold technical facts, accounts of digital dysmorphia and surveillance, and computer-generated sampling, creating an elegy to the vital body that is at once human and digital. On its surface a critique of today’s techno-society, loss·y collusively takes up digital reduction and surveillance as creative media, revealing reverence for the uncanny wonder that pulls us forward into our new, hybridized world. Official Selection SXSW 2026
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
Director: Barnaby Thompson
Year: 2026
An in-depth study of David Lean, the man and his films. David Lean was one of the greatest filmmakers. He redefined what films could be, but his singular vision and tenacious determination to film the impossible earned him a reputation as an obsessive maverick. He was a master of his craft, capable of creating love and beauty on screen, but whose personal life was often troubled, uprooted, and painful. Featuring interviews with contemporary filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Paul Greengrass, Alfonso Cuarón, Celine Song, Brady Corbet, Francis Ford Coppola, Denis Villeneuve, Nia DaCosta, and Joe Wright. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2026 - Cannes Classics - World premiere
Intelligence Rising
Director: Elena Andreicheva
Year: 2026
Much has been said about artificial intelligence's effect on fields such as the creative arts, but we are only now beginning to experience the geopolitical consequences. Intelligence Rising chronicles a bold experiment: some of the world’s most prominent thinkers in politics, military strategy, philosophy, and technology gather to play an intricate wargame designed by Marc Warner, a founder and leader who's been at the frontier of AI progress for 15 years. What ensues is a stark warning, but also a much-needed reminder of the power of human autonomy and empathy. Official Selection DOX DANMARK - World premiere Official Selection CPH DOX 2026 Official Selection SXSW London 2026