It’s 1987: Conor (Albert Birney) lives with his dog Sandy and spends his time manually transcribing other people’s photos into ASCII art and mailing them back on perforated printer paper. He comes across an ad in Personal Computing magazine for a game called OBEX — an immersive RPG adventure that requires him to mail in a videotape of himself. When the floppy disc arrives, he’s disappointed to see the game was a scam, but when his PC starts printing frightening messages, cicadas invade his home, and his dog goes missing, the real game begins.
Adventurers, stay a while and listen. Albert Birney crafts this uncanny analog horror turned gamer fantasy in his distinct vaporwave style – glitchy pixelated visuals, 8-bit nostalgia rendered in black-and-white, and scored with glowing 80s synth by Josh Dibb (aka Deakin of Animal Collective). OBEX is a lo-fi adventure into a mystical world built on a DOS-based framework, western RPG ruleset, and a fantasy mythology rich with lore.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez, Frank Mosley
USA
2025
English
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
James Belfor, Albert Birney, Emma Hannaway, Pete Ohs
Screenwriter
Albert Birney, Pete Ohs
Cinematography
Pete Ohs
Editor
Albert Birney, Pete Ohs
Original Music
Josh Dibb
Albert Birney
Albert Birney is a Baltimore-based filmmaker. He has directed six feature films including The Beast Pageant (co-directed with Jon Moses), Sylvio and Strawberry Mansion (both co-directed with Kentucker Audley), Tux and Fanny, Eyeballs in the Darkness, and OBEX. Sylvio was named one of the 10 best films of 2017 by The New Yorker. Birney’s films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, the Maryland Film Festival, Slamdance, and the Ottawa International Animation Festival. In 2021, he released a Tux and Fanny video game that he made with Gabriel Koenig.
Filmography: The Beast Pageant (2010); Sylvio (2017); Tux and Fanny (2019); Strawberry Mansion (2021); Eyeballs in the Darkness (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The English Patient
In the first of a new Film Studies series exploring literary adaptations, director Anthony Minghella tackles Michael Ondatje's challenging, poetic WWII novel about an enigmatic, badly burnt patient with a tragic past. Introduced by Patricia Gruben.
Sirât
A desperate father (Sergi Lopez) searchers for his missing daughter through the spiritual wasteland of the Moroccan desert. An unforgettable sensory powerhouse, Sîrat will have you riveted and rattled for hours after the end credits have rolled.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and Special Jury Prize Winner, Sundance, 2025, this exposé shot by a Russian primary teacher shows how the Putin propaganda machine works to militarize children.
2026 Oscar® Shorts (Documentary)
Don't come to the program of Oscar®-nominated documentary shorts for escapism. But let's talk about the Canadian contender, Perfectly a Strangeness, featuring an abandoned observatory and three donkeys. More of this, please.