A documentary film, 2012, Finnish Tv1,2012; Floating ghost, a performance and video program curated by Jussi Koitela for the Manifest 10 on board project.
Virtual War is a story about Virtual Chechnya that is being built in Second Life and the visions and hopes focused on real-life Chechnya. The film follows Chechen refugees living in diaspora as they begin to negotiate the construction of a virtual Chechnya in Second Life. During the process, reality and the contradictory hopes of Chechens – who are scattered around the world – inevitably conflict with each other.
The Chechen refugees of Western Europe are experienced users of computers. The broken families constantly keep in touch by email and Skype Internet phonecalls. To balance the insecurity that fills their everyday life, the Chechens in diaspora have a need to create a unifying virtual world, a haven that would be prepared for hackers’ attacks and even a virtual war. The refugees want to build a place in Second Life where at least their avatars can be safe. A virtual trauma center for refugees recovering from the war, a mosque, a cinema and a press conference center were all planned to be a part of Virtual Chechnya.
The film follows as well Mikael Storsjö, a Finland Swedish businessman, journalist and NGO activist. In 2004, he transfered the Chechen news server Kavkaz Center’s web pages to his own server in Finland. The Kavkaz Center Internet agency has for years functioned as an information forum for Chechen resistance fighters de-spite repeated virtual attacks against it. The news service aims at a human rights establishment for the people of Chechnya and at the independence of the nation. The Kavkaz Center server was soon to be confiscated by the Finnish secret police. Storsjö has, however, continued to support Kavkaz Center by organizing its transfer to The Pirate Bay’s server in Sweden.
Produced by Illume
