The Institute

2013 • 90 minutes
3.9
51 reviews
71%
Tomatometer
Eligible
Watch in a web browser or on supported devices Learn More

About this movie

"To those dark horses with the spirit to look up and see... a recondite family awaits." Welcome to the Jejune Institute, a mind-bending San Francisco phenomenon where 10,000 people became "inducted" without ever quite realizing what they'd signed up for.  Was it a cult?  Was it an elaborate game?  Told from the participants’ perspectives, this film looks over the precipice at an emergent new art form where real world and fictional narratives collide, creating unforeseen and often unsettling consequences. Fusing elements of counter-culture, new religious movements and street art, this film invites viewers into a secret underground world teeming just beneath the surface of everyday life.

Ratings and reviews

3.9
51 reviews
Stop Think
July 7, 2014
This is what happens when art is contrived. If you are dumb or stoned you may be slightly distracted, otherwise just irritated.
A Google user
February 14, 2015
I hesitate to call it a game or ARG but a full long term art piece, fascinating!
Devin Babb (thatguybabb)
April 22, 2014
Great documentary about one of the biggest, elaborate ARGs I've ever heard of