OBEX
February 1, 2026
4:30pm | SIFF Film Center
Presented by Grand Illusion Cinema
In pre-internet 1987, Conor and his dog Sandy live a life of seclusion, lost in the slow-rendering graphics of early Macs and televisions aglow with late-night horror movie marathons. But when he begins playing OBEX, a new and mysterious, state-of-the-art computer game, he finds himself trapped in a low-tech, but high-stakes analog hellscape as the line between reality and game blurs.
SIFF year-round passes and vouchers are not valid for this screening.
The new movie from Albert Birney, co-writer and director of Strawberry Mansion, OBEX is an audacious, uncanny, and delightfully skewed lo-fi fantasy. Shot in striking black and white, this surreally nostalgic nightmare revisits the dawn of personal computing to reflect on the loneliness of our always-online present day.
“'OBEX' is the kind of powerfully subconscious film that works on you after you’ve finished watching it, flooding back to your mind when you hear cicadas, while you stare at a blank television or if you’re simply standing in line at the grocery store.”—Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com
- Director: Albert Birney
- Principal Cast: Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez, Paisley Isaacs, Frank Mosley, Tyler Davis
- Country: USA
- Year: 2025
- Running Time: 91 min.
- Language: English