By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there’s always more we can learn about them as people. We decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!
One of the most beautiful things about films is their ability to help us escape. For the duration of a movie, we are invited into another world that can divert our attention from the weight we may be carrying.
Filmmaker Albert Birney hopes his film OBEX, a lo-fi fantasy about loner Conor Marsh, who embarks on a quest to find his dog after she goes missing while he’s playing the video game OBEX, does just that. “Maybe for 90 minutes, this story will make someone forget the dark times we’re all collectively going through,” says Birney, who co-wrote OBEX, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT section, with Pete Ohs.
Inserting a darling animal into a storyline can also offer a significant energy boost, as can working with one, which Birney discovered while starring opposite his pup. “Acting alongside my dog” was Birney’s favorite part of making the film, he says. “She always hit her mark.”
Below, Birney, who was back at the Fest after premiering Strawberry Mansion in 2021, discusses how trial and error led him to create OBEX, how making movies impacts his mental health, and what other artists should remember when making movies.
What was the biggest inspiration behind OBEX?
In 2020, I made a video game called Tux and Fanny. I had a blast making it, and afterward, I wanted to make another game that was somehow also a movie — a movie/game hybrid. After trying to figure out what this would look like, I realized I had no idea how to do this, so I decided to just make a movie about a video game.
Around this same time, we got a dog, which caused a wonderful, seismic shift in my life. This was 2021, which was when the 17-year cicada brood was coming up out of the ground in Baltimore. So, making a video game, getting a dog, and cicadas were the inspiration for this movie.
Describe who you want this film to reach.
People who like computer games and dogs.
Tell us an anecdote about casting or working with your actor(s).
Frank Mosley, who plays Victor in the film, acted the entire time with a TV on his head, and he didn’t complain once. We snuck his actual face into a few photographs you see in the movie.
What was a big challenge you faced while making OBEX?
Memorizing my lines.
Tell us why and how you got into filmmaking.
I started making little movies with the family camcorder and was hooked.
Why is filmmaking important to you? Why is it important to the world?
Making movies makes me feel a little less crazy.
If you weren’t a filmmaker, what would you be doing?
Making video games.
What is something that all filmmakers should keep in mind to become better cinematic storytellers?
People like to laugh.
Who are your creative heroes?
Shigeru Miyamoto, Jan Švankmajer.
What was the last thing you saw that you wish you made?
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
Who was the first person you told when you learned you got into the Sundance Film Festival?
My dog, who was sitting on my lap when I got the call.
What’s your favorite film that has come from the Sundance Institute or Festival?
Blood Simple.
