Documentary “The Surrounding Game” Now Available Worldwide

[Bonobo]

<edit>
Now available worldwide for purchase and streaming, plus some merchandise.

https://mailchi.mp/surroundinggamemovie/the-surrounding-game-is-now-available-worldwide
</edit>

Finally …

See also http://www.surroundinggamemovie.com/en/schedule/

[3lhouse]

Wow, this is exciting. I remember meeting this ramshackle team at the Canadian Open I think in 2012, in the midst of their Kickstarter. I thought it was a cute project and was happy to see it funded, but they didn't seem like they knew what they were doing haha. It looks like it has really come together! The production values are excellent, and getting a feature interview with Lee Sedol is pretty boss.

It's too bad about the protracted development cycle, but I suppose that's how these things often go. Looks like the film is going to have a heavy feature on Andy Liu and the fledgling AGA pro system, while not addressing more recent developments like AlphaGo. Ah well, still looking forward to it.

[Bonobo]

“The Surrounding Game” – screening in San Francisco

Roxie Theatre: Sat, Jun 10, 12:31 PM
Vogue Theatre: Sun, Jun 11, 12:15 PM

Click the link to purchase your tickets.

[Bonobo]

Now available worldwide for purchase and streaming, plus some merchandise.

https://mailchi.mp/surroundinggamemovie/the-surrounding-game-is-now-available-worldwide

[Jordus]

Just watched this on Netflix. I enjoyed it and was very surprised to see footage of tournaments I was present at like the 2012 Cotsen Open. It was really awesome to see many familiar faces as well. While I haven't had much time to dedicate to Go the past few years, it is nice to find a movie that stirs that deep passion for the game that is inside us. I can't wait for the day I can start dedicating myself to the game again.

[RobertJasiek]

While the film is interesting for some go players, IMO it is uninteresting for non-players. Do the producers expect to sell it to non-players, too? The production quality resembles that of an ordinary but dedicated TV documentary film, as it might have been produced for a portrait of expert musicians. Why has so much effort been invested in production? It can't only be go players' obsession to do other go players a favour, can it?

[John Fairbairn]

While the film is interesting for some go players, IMO it is uninteresting for non-players. Do the producers expect to sell it to non-players, too? The production quality resembles that of an ordinary but dedicated TV documentary film, as it might have been produced for a portrait of expert musicians. Why has so much effort been invested in production? It can't only be go players' obsession to do other go players a favour, can it?

Eh?!!! I haven't watched this film but in the past week or so I have watched documentaries on Madonna and Kylie Minogue, on rituals around the world, on adoptees searching for their birth mothers in India, on VE-Day, and probably other things. I rarely enjoy pop music, have no real interest in anthropology, genealogy, India or war. But I enjoyed all these films because they were about other people doing things differently from me. "There's nowt as interesting as other folk."

I can even remember a documentary film I was forced to watch nearly 70 years about margarine. Even the oddest things can be fascinating. I have also watched this week various versions of Baby Shark and although I'm not into kindergarten songs, Jaws or fishing, had a great laugh. (And I re-watched the Geordie Haka BTW). Other people are funny, not just interesting.

As to why the producers invested so much into this, I don't know, but it's very easy to imagine good reasons. Making money because they do understand that nowt is as interesting as other folk is one possible one. It may be they want a career in Hollywood and this is just practising - getting another notch on the CV in the university of life. Maybe they just like other people. One of the great joys of journalism for me was travelling round the world meeting people from all stations, classes and cultures. The game of go has been another portal to a wider world.

Why be sour about what so many other people enjoy?

[RobertJasiek]

Maybe you are right, or I am, or we will never learn who is if the producers should not tell us. I am pessimistic because the film focuses on a specialised aspect of the go world: the first American go professional qualification tournament. Nevertheless, you might be right because non-players might be fascinated by the great determination of those nerds for whom 14 hours go study per day is the minimum since they were very young.

[Monadology]

While the film is interesting for some go players, IMO it is uninteresting for non-players.

That is not my experience at all. I was at the world premiere showing at a film festival, and the audience members were largely non-Go players and they found the film very interesting, as evidenced by the participation levels in the Q&A session afterwards. I've also shown this to friends and family who are not Go players and they enjoyed it immensely.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that twitch.tv hosted a day of Go, including a screening of the film, and the turn-out of viewers was quite high (in the thousands).

[John Fairbairn]

I just watched the film tonight. I enjoyed it, and my wife - not a go player - also enjoyed it, although in her case she has met several of the people featured and been to several of the places shown.

I thought the photography was excellent, and the editing was of very high calibre. I wasn't sure about the writing/directing. There is an old adage in communications: tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you've told 'em. As jokey as it is, it works. This film was a case of don't tell 'em, what you're going to tell 'em, don't tell 'em, etc. I could see what the director was trying to achieve with a combination of a nod to French film-making with "less is more" and an onion-peeling technique. It worked well enough for me, but I knew (or knew of) virtually everything in the film already. I'm unsure of two things. One is what non-go players would make of it. I could see that they might well enjoy it. Apart from the visual appeal, there were many little windows opened onto exotic cultures, rather like an Advent calendar leading us to Christmas. There was the very engaging personalities of the wannabe pros. There was a story line - a bit hidden perhaps - of these wannabes working their way through the qualification process, and this was done rather well. There was also a big stroke of luck in that AlphaGo happened at just the right time to raise awareness of go among non-players.

But against that, there as a lack of signposting and information even after the onion layers were peeled off and the calendar windows were opened. Who was this guy Michael Redmond? What are the rewards of becoming a pro? Where do women fit in (and where was Janice Kim)? On what authority were all these talking heads talking? Where do parents fit in? Etc, etc. No problem for me or anyone else here, but when you've got an audience of non-go players, it seems a little bit risky to rely on the other attributes such as top-notch photography and exotic cultures and some great quotes to keep their attention, especially as the film is a lot longer than the usual documentary.

Also, if the film was intended to promote go in the USA, I suspect it will only have a very short-term effect, and some of that effect will be negative. For example, I think any parent seeing it would be horrified by the thought of their kids wanting to be a pro go player.

I'd give 5 stars to the photography, 4 to the editing, 3 to the writing/directing, and if promoting go really was a theme, just 1 star for that. I think for once I might be aligned with Robert.

[HKA]

I just watched the film tonight. I enjoyed it, and my wife - not a go player - also enjoyed it, although in her case she has met several of the people featured and been to several of the places shown.

My wife, also not a go player, did not enjoy it, probably because she knows one of the people featured all too well.

[pnprog]

By the way, does anybody know the name of that upbeat music played in the movie:

• When Andy is playing his 40 games online?
• During the pre qualification round?

With this music, the director somehow managed to make "playing online Go" appears like something very cool

[Uberdude]

Not sure if it's the one you mean, but I did recognise Liszt's La Campanella as the energetic piano piece at one point (subtitlted as "soft instrumental"!), I think it was during the dramatic final though.

[pnprog]

Well, I has able to find my answer on the music compositor web site: https://jonnatchez.bandcamp.com/album/the-surrounding-game-original-score

The music I was mentioning is called "Meet Andy" (#3)