Christopher Sumpton

First Person Shooter

Filmmaker Robin Benger covered 14 wars in 24 countries as a veteran TV producer but nothing prepared him for the discovery that war was being waged in the basement of his own home. He discovered that "first person shooter" games, and violence-centred gaming, are taking over as the entertainment of choice for a whole generation of (mostly) teenage males. Entering into that world, he began filming in cyber-cafes, games manufacturers‚ conventions, and mega gaming tournaments, even tracking down the designer of the very game causing him so much friction with his own son.

East Side Showdown

This feature documentary is a portrait of the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Dundas and Sherbourne, where the gap between rich and poor is growing wide. There, middle-class homeowners, angry radicals, desperate drug addicts and people simply looking for a place to lay their head are embattled in a bitter struggle for space.