| Sumario: | Interactive films such as FMVs (Full-Motion Videogames) were declared to be a shortlived and relatively obscure genre of the past until recently, when they started to reappear primarily as videogames and films in online streaming services, generating newfound interest in both audiences and researchers. This article contributes to the ongoing related research on such contemporary interactive films, audiovisual works that combine largely uninterrupted cinematic sequences with interactivity and gameplay to varying degrees, locating them amid a constantly growing, mutual exchange between cinema and videogames. Interactive films should not be considered a direct product of this relationship, since they existed before its inception, however the research at hand argues that it is this exact exchange that generated the necessary requirements for interactive films to reemerge and develop as a viable genre in the context of the present-day culture of convergence. FMVs seem to appear as both “films” and “games,” as they are not exclusive of either of the two media, actually being dependent on both of them. Based on theories of film narrative, interactivity, agency, and gameplay, among others, this article maps the liminal space by locating both filmic and ludic elements that are integral to the genre’s identity, with the goal of defining this unique intermedial genre.
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