R U There

Jitze travels around the world as a young, professional gamer. Almost blasé, he and his team members arrive at a video game contest in Taiwan. Online, he shoots down opponents in fictional war zones, before withdrawing to his hotel room in real life; reality barely interests him. Only when he witnesses a serious traffic accident, he becomes aware of his own mortality. In these confusing days, he meets an intriguing Taiwanese girl in the hotel, whom he only dares to approach on the virtual platform Second Life. Like Shanghai Trance (2008), this second full-length feature film by David Verbeek revolves around a young Westerner in Asia. Because the virtual world plays such a crucial part in the lives of Verbeek's character Jitze and his generation, part of the story is set in cyberspace, with the help of animation. R U There had its world première during the latest Cannes festival in the Un Certain Regard section.