American Documentary

Overview

Brooklyn, N.Y. – May 23, 2025 – POV, the multi-Emmy® and Peabody award-winning documentary series, presents the personal online gaming documentary Break the Game, marking the feature debut of writer/director/producer Jane M. Wagner. The documentary will make its national broadcast premiere during Pride Month on POV Monday, June 30, 2025 at 10pm (check local listings) on PBS Television, and will be available to stream until July 30, 2025 at pbs.org, and the PBS App.

Break the Game follows World Record holding gamer Narcissa Wright, who, after coming out as trans, loses a chunk of her massive fanbase. In hopes of recapturing her fame, she begins a quest to be the world’s fastest Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild player, despite being the target of cyberbullying. The moving documentary chronicles Narcissa’s rise and fall and rise, explores online gamer culture, the realities of online harassment, and the mental health implications of living a digital life.

In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real-time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities.

Video games and the community around them have meant everything to Narcissa. Her pursuit to set speedrun records in numerous game titles allowed her to command stages worldwide, becoming one of the most renowned gamers of all time. As much as she loves the challenge of conquering virtual worlds, living alone in her apartment and having no face-to-face human interaction, her isolated digital existence begins to crack. While Narcissa struggles with her crisis of self-worth and public validation, transphobia and hate, she must decide if she will embrace love and build a fulfilling life in the real world or if she will be seduced again by the volatile nature of internet fandom.

Jane M. Wagner’s Break the Game takes viewers on an emotionally arresting journey through Narcissa’s innermost thoughts, showcasing the duality of a passionate and compulsive video game streamer. Drawing from an archive of more than 3,000 hours of Narcissa’s live streams, intimate vérité footage, and 8-bit animation, Break the Game reveals the fine line between support and dependency. Wagner forces audiences to consider the consequences of connecting solely through digital realities and the importance of human friendship.

“Break the Game has the opportunity to help destigmatize anxiety and depression in virtual and queer spaces – particularly in online gaming and streaming cultures,” said Jane M. Wagner, director, Break the Game. The film is also a resource for those feeling isolated, anxious, or depressed. I want them to know they are not alone and where to seek help. After viewers see the film, I hope they will feel empowered to speak up when they see fellow streamers being harassed online. There’s truth to the famous Zelda slogan ‘It’s dangerous to go alone.’”

“Jane Wagner’s film is vividly told and is a sharp, compassionate exploration about the darker side of online gamer culture,” said Chris White, Executive Producer, POV. “Break the Game reveals how quickly the ‘cult of personality’ both rises and falls in this digital sphere, affecting the mental health of individuals - like Narcissa - who endure toxic online harassment. Jane’s film takes us through the lived realities of the internet fandom experience and demonstrates how the yearning for connection and love is an essential part of our humanity. We are proud to share Break the Game with viewers across the country and hope it will inspire empathy, and serve as a springboard towards greater understanding of how online harassment affects mental health.”

Break the Game made its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival winning Special Jury Mention for Best New Documentary Director. The film has been screened worldwide and was an official selection at the 2023 Mental Health Film Festival Singapore, the 2023 Festival dei Popoli, the 2023 Outfest LA Film Festival, the 2023 Philadelphia Film Festival, and many more.

“As gaming becomes a more and more prominent aspect of modern-day youth culture, documentaries like Break the Game offer the human side of an ever-growing ecosystem too often reduced to pixels and memes”

–Eric Kohn, Indiewire

Break the Game is a Radiant Zigzag Productions film. Jane M. Wagner is the director, producer and writer. Narcissa Wright, Justin Lee Stanley and Jane M. Wagner are the cinematographers, and Jane M. Wagner, Nina Sacharow and Stephanie Andreou are the editors. Animation is by Patrick Ackerman and Emily Wolver, and the composers are Jeffrey Brodsky and Jesse Novak.

Photos

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Credits

Director: Jane M. Wagner
Producer: Jane M. Wagner
Cast/Participant: Narcissa Wright
Executive Producers: Erika Dilday, Chris White for American Documentary
Writer: Jane M. Wagner
Cinematographers: Justin Lee Stanley, Jane M. Wagner, Narcissa Wright,
Editors: Jane M. Wagner, Nina Sacharow, Stephanie Andreou
Composers: Jeffrey Brodsky, Jesse Novak
Co-producers: Jonathan Norcross, Nina Sacharow, Stephanie Andreou
Consulting Producers: Carrie Weprin, Josh Penn, Mathew Brian Makar
Consulting Editor: Daniel Garber
Animation: Patrick Ackerman, Emily Wolver
Language: English
Country: USA
Year: 2023

About the Filmmaker

About the Filmmaker

Jane M. Wagner, Director, Producer, Writer, Break the Game

Jane M. Wagner is a documentary filmmaker exploring technology’s impact on our emotional lives. Her debut feature BREAK THE GAME (PBS/POV) had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Mention for Best New Documentary Director. In 2023, Jane was featured in Filmmaker Magazine's “25 New Faces of Film.” Her work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, the IDA, DOCNYC, Chicken and Egg Pictures, and the Catapult Film Fund. In 2024, Jane was named to DOCNYC’s “40 Under 40” list. She is currently in development on *holds you tight*, her second feature documentary.

About

About POV

Produced by American Documentary, POV is the longest-running independent documentary Produced by American Documentary, POV is the longest-running independent documentary showcase on American television. Since 1988, POV has presented films on PBS that capture the full spectrum of the human experience, with a long commitment to centering women and people of color in front of, and behind, the camera. The series is known for introducing generations of viewers to groundbreaking works like Tongues Untied (1989), Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1992), Rabbit in the Room (1999), Of Civil Wrongs & Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story (2001), Made in L.A. (2007), American Promise (2013), Not Going Quietly (2021), While We Watched (2022), A House Made of Splinters (2022), The Last Out (2023) and the mini-series And She Could be Next (2020). Throughout its history POV has featured the work of award-winning, innovative filmmakers including Jonathan Demme, Laura Poitras, Nanfu Wang, Frederick Wiseman, Emiko Omori, Janus Metz Pedersen and Ava DuVernay. In 2018, POV Shorts launched as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries. In 2024, Indiewire named seven POV films in its roundup of “The 50 Best Documentaries of the 21st Century”: Faya Dayi (2021), The Mole Agent (2020), Minding The Gap (2018), Cameraperson (2016), The Look of Silence (2015), The Act of Killing (2013) and After Tiller (2013). All POV programs are available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.

POV goes “beyond the broadcast” to bring powerful nonfiction storytelling to viewers wherever they are. Free educational resources accompany every film and a community network of thousands of partners nationwide work with POV to spark dialogue around today’s most pressing issues. POV continues to explore the future of documentary through innovative productions with partners such as The New York Times and The National Film Board of Canada and on platforms including Instagram.

POV films and projects have won 50 Emmy Awards, 28 George Foster Peabody Awards, 16 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards® and the first-ever George Polk Documentary Film Award. Learn more at pbs.org/pov and follow @povdocs on social media.

About American Documentary, Inc.

American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia organization dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.

Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, the Open Society Foundations, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, Park Foundation, and Perspective Fund. Additional funding comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Chris and Nancy Plaut, Acton Family Giving, and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.

About PBS

PBS, with more than 330 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches over 36 million adults on linear primetime television, more than 16 million users on PBS-owned streaming platforms, 53 million viewers on YouTube, and 60 million people view PBS content on social media, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature, and public affairs and to take front-row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’s broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS LearningMedia for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. As the number one educational media brand, PBS KIDS helps children 2-8 build critical skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality content on TV — including a PBS KIDS channel — and streaming free on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Video app, games on the PBS KIDS Games app, and in communities across America. More information about PBS is available at PBS.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet, Facebook, Instagram, or through our apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Communications on X.