The first edition of VRE Virtual Reality Experience (VRE)has come to an end, the festival ideated by Mariangela Matarozzo and produced by Iconialab.
VRE illustrates the world of the revolution of contents and of VR/ AR/ XR languages.
At the centre of five days, that spaced from arts to medicine, from social to business, there was a selection of 21 works made between 2017 and 2019, from the major International festivals.
The awards were assigned according to originality, quality and the immersive ability of the competing works.
VRE Award
Haenyeo di Jaehee Cho (USA/ South Corea), 2019
The award was assigned by the International jury composed of:
- Andrey Drobitko (Founder CEO at SketchAR, Lituania)
- Kädi Lokk (Producer and director, Estonia)
- Antonino Muro (Founder & Account Manager di Giffoni Innovation Hub, Italia)
- Urlich Schrauth (Founder and artistic director of VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival, Hamburg) VRHAM! Realtà Virtuale e Festival delle Arti, Amburgo)
With the following motivation:
The work of Jaehee Cho tells the fascinating story of the Haenyeo, the Korean fishing community of the Jeju island, from which the documentary takes its name.
The community was recognized in 2016 by the UNESCOas intangible asset for humanity, because they deserve to protect their history and identity.
The documentary manages to involve the viewer immersing him in the deep waters among these Asian mermaids, whose specialty is free diving.
The jury that was called to express their opinion on the competing works has recognized in Haenyeo an added value connected to the importance to identify a reality full of history which is fighting not to be blown away by modernity.
Premio Young For Virtual Reality Experience
The 7th night of Thelema: A Virtual Ritual di Gianluigi Perrone (Cina), 2017
Assigned by the Young Jury composed of:
- Eugenio Piazza
- Bianca Gagliardi, Antonella Stelitano, Francesco Minniti, Giulio Lattanzi, Salwa Malouk and Angela Ranieri: each from the education and academic world and all involved in the double role of Juror and Ambassador. With the following motivation: The witches’ dance macabre and Ecate’s frantic dance seduced the public of Under 25 which thanks to virtual reality took place to the ritual allowing themselves to be captured by the esoteric atmospheres in a vortex of bodies, shapes and music. Based on the story of Thelema, an esoteric religion built on the philosophy of the occultist Aleister Crowley, the short film employs the immersive technology to recreate the choreography and the scenography of the actual ritual dragging the viewer in a spiritual, artistic and out of the ordinary journey.
Special mention Virtual Reality Experience:
Crow: The Legend di Eric Darnell, USA, 2018
The new animated short film by Baobab Studios, directed by Eric Darnell, director of Madagascar saga, allows to experience the past in a new and bold way thanks to virtual reality.
Crow: The Legend joins narration and music to VR with wonderful alchemy. Virtual reality is an incredible tool that can help to take on a journey to discover oneself. An important message which people from every social standing can make their own.
Rai Cinema Channel VR Award
Being an Astronaut 1-2 di Jürgen Hansen & Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff, Francia, 2019.
The award, offered by Rai, consists in the acquisition of the WEB and FREE VOD rights for a value of 3.000,00 euros exclusively for the Italian territory for three years from the signing of the contract and in the distribution of the short film on the new Rai Cinema Channel VR App.
With the following motivation: “For having explored with dedication and in depth inaccessible worlds which have always lit the collective imagination. For having accompanied the viewer through a totally immersive experience: a journey of discovery and knowledge in which virtual reality is a useful and effective tool in support of the narrated universe”.
“ It was a festival – as the Artistic Director Mariangela Matarozzo explains – full of ideas and rich of public of all ages. Two years ago when, coming from a long experience in experimental cinema and in mashup, i started to think about a festival dedicated to the new frontiers that the immersive technologies would have reached, i didn’t yet imagine how vast the world where VR is and generally speaking the Extended Reality: from arts to communication, from medicine to business and the promotion of the Cultural Heritage, but also form of more emphatic and immediate communication used by International Cooperation. We shined a light on this world and saw that there so much more. We know that it is from here that we can and must start.”
Virtual Reality Experience took part in Videocittà nitiatives – the vision festival ideated by Francesco Rutelli – and is part of the Contemporaneamente Roma 2019 program promoted by Roma Capitale-Assessorato alla Crescita Culturale and realized in collaboration with SIAE.