INAUGURAL AFTRS INTERNATIONAL VR AWARD WINNER & ADL FILM FEST VR PROGRAM PACKAGES ANNOUNCED

October 4, 2017

In by Dov Kornits

“I travelled to the future, changed sex and species, was trapped in an unnerving icy European landscape, sat at the feet of African muses, swam underwater with prehistoric Beasts and got eaten by zombies. I also acquired a large number of very cool dance partners… some non-human. Basically awesome!” Juror Rachel Landers
“I travelled to the future, changed sex and species, was trapped in an unnerving icy European landscape, sat at the feet of African muses, swam underwater with prehistoric Beasts and got eaten by zombies. I also acquired a large number of very cool dance partners… some non-human. Basically awesome!” Juror Rachel Landers

Virtual Reality work by Michelle and Uri Kranot, Nothing Happens (Denmark, France) has won the ADL Film Fest’s inaugural AFTRS International VR Award with a Special Mention going to Selly Raby Kane’s homage to Senegalese mythology, The Other Dakar (Senegal). ADL Film Fest is proud to partner with the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS) in launching this new International Award.

Both of these works, along with the other eight films in Competition will be available to be viewed in ADL Film Fest’s VR Lounge presented by JumpgateVR.

Jury member, Google Creative Technologist Mathew Tizard said “Nothing Happens was the unanimous choice of the jurors. It’s beautifully made and shows just what can be accomplished with VR storytelling when you play to its strengths. The narrative is compelling, shifting between three viewpoints within the same scenario. The piece raises pertinent questions about observation and embodiment which are central to furthering the conversation about VR as a narrative medium. It’s a pleasure to see older animation techniques combined with the new elements that VR can offer, such as head tracking and spatial sound, both of which intensify the viewer’s sense of immersion. Special mention goes to The Other Dakar which we all felt was a startlingly beautiful and strange work. It has a refined artistic sensibility reminiscent of Matthew Barney’s work, but through an African lens. With such remarkable production design on display, I can’t help but wonder what this filmmaking team might go on to achieve with a larger budget,” he said.

Amanda Duthie, CEO and Artistic Director ADL Film Fest said “Adelaide Film Festival is always motivated to present new and innovative forms of screen storytelling. We started with an incredibly high bar as investors in COLLISIONS, the internationally acclaimed VR work by visionary artist and filmmaker Lynette Wallworth. It motivated us to keep finding the best in the world which is why it is such a thrill to be presenting the inaugural International VR Award with AFTRS and having the privilege of seeing the very best VR the world has to offer.”

Rachel Landers, Head of Documentary at AFTRS said “This year’s VR line-up in competition at Adelaide Film Festival is storytelling at it’s vibrant best – beautiful, curious and rich with infinite possibilities. I travelled to the future, changed sex and species, was trapped in an unnerving icy European landscape, sat at the feet of African muses,
swam underwater with prehistoric Beasts and got eaten by zombies. I also acquired a large number of very cool dance partners… some non-human. Basically awesome!”

The ten VR Competition works, together with ADL Film Fest commissioned world premiere work The Summation of Force VR, will be presented in five themed program packages, with each program screening in the ADLFF’s VR Lounge presented by JumpgateVR located via the Festival Box Office at GU Film House.

VR sessions of all 5 program packages screen Friday 6 to Sunday 15 October (excluding Monday & Tuesday).

Two programs are created specifically for Kids with a G rating, and the other 3 programs screen as M15+.

A Session ticket is only $10. Bookings can be made via the links below, or inperson at the Box Office.

VR#1 (37mins, M15+) tickets: https://adelaidefilmfestival.org/sessions/15916

Melita and The Extraction take you to our world in 2025 and 2026. Fight off humanity’s final threat in 2026 in Khoa Do and Pier Mussared’s The Extraction. In 2026 follow a female scientist in a world that is collapsing due to climate change in Nicolás Alcalá’s Melita.

VR#2 (30mins, M15+) tickets: https://adelaidefilmfestival.org/sessions/15799

This VR experience will see the viewer in the centre of a dance battle in Once Upon a Time in the Western Suburbs, exploring the shared senses between mother and unborn child in Mother’s Ghost and a hand drawn animation piece inspired by American novelist Paul Auster’s first work, The New York Trilogy in My Name is Peter
Stillman.

VR#3 – For Kids (38mins, G) tickets: https://adelaidefilmfestival.org/sessions/15912

This package specially programmed for children will introduce you to Annaya, a brilliant female scientist who is charged with the task of finding a new planet for humanity in Melita and viewers will be transported to the magical realm of Dakar in Selly Raby Kane’s The Other Dakar.

VR#4 – For Kids (27mins, G) tickets: https://adelaidefilmfestival.org/sessions/15854

A program for children and the young at heart. Be transported to the deepest depths of the ocean in Prehistoric VR, shoot chrome cats from your hands in Chocolate and navigate your way through the dreamlike world of Dakar in The Other Dakar.

VR#5 (34mins, M15+) tickets: https://adelaidefilmfestival.org/sessions/15846

A package that will take you to snow filled landscapes, the last living moments of a sex worker in South Korea, the dreamlike streets of Dakar and a colourful, psychedelic world of colourful chrome cats. This package has it all with AFTRS International VR Award winner Nothing Happens, screening with Bloodless, The Other Dakar and Chocolate.

Age guidelines
G – parent supervision required for years 7-13
M15+ – 15 and over

In 2017 & 2018 ADL Film Fest will run alongside a new sister event Hybrid World Adelaide, an interactive tech based event, for the digitally curious and the screen obsessed, at Tonsley Innovation Precinct from 4-8 October. For more information, go to hybridworldadelaide.org

Adelaide Film Festival would not be possible without the support of Major Government Partner Arts South Australia and the long-standing support of Principal Partner Channel 9 and Major Partners Screen Australia, South Australian Film Corporation, Adelaide City Council, Flinders University, NATION and INex.

ONLINE TICKET SALES: www.adelaidefilmfestival.org

BOX OFFICE for in-person sales at GU Film House, 128 Hindley Street

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