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Sad clips from films, TV shows and TikTok are being spliced together over melancholy music – and they’re raising a smile among hopeless young people

Jimmy Nguyen, an 18-year-old student, saw his first “corecore” video on TikTok in January. He can’t remember which one it was – there are so many of them now. But he says it was typical of this new trend of video: other TikTok videos, celebrity or podcaster interviews, TV show and film clips spliced together over some sad or ambient music. They’re depressing, full of existential dread and usually on the theme of disconnection and alienation. Nguyen initially thought, like other users, that these videos were a joke. They’re crudely edited and the name in itself is a sarcastic reference to the proliferation of micro-trends emerging from TikTok since 2020. But he was soon staying up late at night in his bedroom making corecore of his own.

Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has picked up North American rights to three movies from Concourse Media: board game doc Gamemaster, music film Find Your Groove and low-budget rom-com Daddy Issues.

Gamemaster, currently set for a July release, dives into the world of the board game industry and hones in on five game designers who have had big success or are trying to break through. Talking heads include Klaus Teuber (The Settlers of Catan), Matt Leacock and Elan Lee (Exploding Kittens). The film is directed by Charles Mruz and produced by Jimmy Nguyen, Wally Schrass, Kristopher Wile, Jason Rose and Jennifer Tocquigny.

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Find Your Groove focuses...

Exclusive: Concourse Media is launching board game documentary Gamemaster at the Afm. Check out the first trailer above.

The feature offers a deep dive into the world of the thriving board game industry and the creators behind popular games. The team behind the feature includes Barista and Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show producers Jimmy Nguyen and Jason Rose. Also producing are Wally Schrass, Kristopher Wile and Jennifer Tocquigny. Charles Mruz directs.

U.S. sales firm Concourse Media reps both domestic and foreign rights. Matthew Shreder, CEO of Concourse, will present the film to buyers at the Afm and will host an Afm ‘Game Night’ in Santa Monica during the market in honor of the movie.

The board game business is booming and has seen a major resurgence in recent years. Contributing to the renaissance are first-time game designers creating their own original board games and financing them...

Left to right: Ryan Patrick McGuffey, Damon Lindelof and Des Doyle.

J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire), Shawn Ryan (The Shield), Damon Lindelof (Lost) and countless others shift from behind the scenes to become the focus of a new documentary, Showrunners: The Art Of Running A TV Show. The doc offers numerous first-hand accounts of what it takes to get a TV show on the air and features a backstory that is almost as equally fascinating. Director Des Doyle and Co-Producer Ryan Patrick McGuffey, both natives of Ireland, sat down recently to discuss the arduous journey of bringing this film to life. "For anyone who has ever truly pursued the dream of making a film, they know it comes with costs attached. “The lucky thing about being a first-time director is that naiveté can make you unaware of just how big a challenge you've set yourself,...