This year the Toronto Silent Film Festival is celebrating films that have been lost and to uncover them, Instagram users are invited to play in the festival’s Escape Room.
Escape games have been growing in popularity, first as computer and games and then played out in real life in purpose built rooms, like the Great Escape in Auckland. However this is the first time the idea has been carried out on Instagram.
“Over 70 percent of silent films have been lost” the teaser video for the game says, “rarely does a lost film escape being lost forever”. As users work their way around the room, they will uncover the once-lost films featured in the festival, which have an associated letter.
The Instagram Escape Room account is made up of a videos which together form a panoramic image of a room. When a video is selected, the user gets a first person view of the room being searched. Once all the letters have been gathered, the user can crack the code and escape.
While the game doesn’t have a time limit like others of its kind, the video teases: “Thousands have tried… only a handful have escaped”.
