23rd Verzió Festival 16–25/11 2026.

Indulto

Indulto

Poster
Indulto poster
Created by

Mélanie Courtinat

France | 2025 | 25 min | English
Full Synopsis

Indulto is an interactive work in three acts that draws parallels between bullfighting and video game boss fights. The player embodies a young torero preparing to face an armored, humanoid bull. As increasingly absurd combat tutorials collapse, the promise of mastery gives way to a confrontation whose outcome is already decided. The final choice, to kill or spare the bull, leads inevitably to its sacrifice. Through this illusion of agency, Indulto questions how violence becomes spectacle, and how beauty and ritual can serve to justify it.

Format
Video game
In Cinemas Only
Mélanie Courtinat
Creator
Mélanie Courtinat

Mélanie Courtinat (b. 1993, Paris) is an artist, art director and educator working across video games, moving image and digital installations. Her practice explores agency, disobedience and the conventions shaping virtual worlds. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at BOZAR, Louvre-Lens, New Galerie and Gray Area. Alongside her artistic practice, she collaborates with luxury brands and other creatives. She teaches video game history at ECAL.