What is the purpose of your visit?

Papers, Please, the indie bureaucrat simulator, is being adapted into a short film.

Released in 2013,Papers, Pleasetasked players with checking the passports of immigrants attempting to enter the fictional country of Arstotzka. It made for some pretty great puzzles and a whole lot of political commentary.

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The game’s creator, Lucas Pope, first posted about the film onTwitterback in May but seeing a full-blown trailer is sure to have more people talking.

Production shots from an upcoming Papers Please short film by Nikita and Liliya Ordynskiy. Really looking forward to this.pic.twitter.com/e1d3qwaHrq

The ghost at the end of the hallway

— Lucas Pope (@dukope)August 09, 2025

The film is being helmed by Nikita and Liliya Ordynskiy, small filmmakers out of theMoscow Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting.

Picking up the smiley face post-it off the broken mirror

While we don’t have any huge insight on the film just yet, it’s nice to see smaller games like this getting some love in film.

Papers, Please- the short film trailer[YouTube]

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