by Anna Reeves
Venice VR Section - Third Year - Running August 28th - September 3rd
It is only the third edition of the Venice VR section and yet already it is establishing itself as unmissable. What makes the selection so world class is that is all about great storytelling and not simply displaying the latest tech. You can become so immerse in an alternate universe that you marvel like a child.
“It’s like making a film for people who’ve never seen a moving image,” says Gilles Jobin who brought the ground-breaking virtual reality experience VR_1 to Venice last year and then toured it widely around the world to much acclaim. 1,200 people went through this experience at Venice alone. This is terrific for a work that has limitations as to how many can do it at one time and shows the demand for such experiences. There is a growing use of live performance within the interactive section and these works are being made with increasing sophistication.
Antonine Cayrol, the producer who has Gloomy Eyes, a Tim-Burtonesque animated film from directors Jorge Tereso and Fernando Maldonado, says that these storytellers came to him “knowing exactly what and why they wanted to do it.” The result is a captivating story about a human girl who falls in love with a zombie boy and an ode to acceptance of otherness. Cavrol talked about how he found nine investors across many territories including Atlas V, Ryot, Vive, Arte, and how they were helped by having an IP that could go from VR to augmented reality to feature films. Time and again VR producers talk about building brand equity and about how excited they are by the near future of this emerging art form.
Baobab Studios from San Francisco who was at Venice last year with “The Story of the Crow” is back with “Bonfire” which integrates high-end animation with powerful A.I so that characters in the world feel like living, thinking beings that respond in believable ways to the viewer’s actions. Kane Lee from Baobab says that the studio has experimented a lot with the balance between reach and engagement. These makers are building up a new language through trial and error of how to break the fourth wall. The paradigm shift is moving fast in this section of the festival, often leaving the traditional feature films looking a little jaded in comparison. One thing that strikes a newcomer to the VR island where the section is housed bestde the Lido is just how young the makers are. The buzz is palpable in the conversations in the inner courtyards as practitioners and visitors meet one another and exchange ideas. This is not a gimmicky art form but a very real future. The tools and methodology is emerging in regards to how critics can write about virtual reality, just as we needed this for cinema. It is unhelpful to use the language of film to describe this unique storytelling form and for that reason VR is talked about as “works” or “experiences.” The viewer is in the heart of a story and can now impact the edit of their unique experience in a completely new spatial dimension. Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac as the VR co-ordinators/selectors for this year’s programme must be applauded for all their passion and insight in making this the most thrilling venue for VR in the world. It is fitting that Laurie Anderson is head of the jury this head for the Lion D’Or for VR as she is a highly respected practitioner and a sure sign that gradually juries are being formed with people who are not filmmakers but acclaimed VR makers in their own right.
The VR Island in the middle of Venice - where all the VR experiences take place
Yuko Kominami performing live on the island (she is the 'Sublimation' VR Experience by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron)