My Avatar and Me

\i Or: How "Second Life" Took over the Actual Existence of Danish Documentarian Mikkel Stolt.\i0 Without sparing himself, Stolt reconstructs the vortex he ended up in upon creating his avatar. First, we see how the less-than-successful filmmaker gets one rejection after another from the Danish Film Institute. In desperation he takes on a dull assignment, a story on Copenhagen's hippie district of Christiania, but his thoughts are elsewhere. In the meantime, he has become increasingly engrossed in his newest discovery, Second Life, where he has ended up at the center of the hippest scene around. In hilarious scenes, he attempts to keep his virtual life a secret from his girlfriend, who like all the other characters plays herself in the film. While she does the dishes, he pretends to be doing online research for a new project, but in reality he's in the midst of some wild adventures with his virtual lady friend Helena. Stolt has become a spectator of his own life. Ultimately, this is just how he finds the perfect story for his new documentary, one that makes the appeal of the virtual world palpable through a generous dose of self-mockery.