Projects
Projects
Intimate Revolutions
Category: CIRCLE Showcase
Directed by: Julia Maryanska
Produced by: Marc J. Francis | Speakit Productions (UK), Julia Maryanska
Country of Production: USA, UK, Poland
Original Title: Intimate Revolutions
Runtime: 80'
Expected Release: November 2027
Production Stage: Production
1st Feature: No
Looking for: Co-Producers, Financing, Distributors/Sales Agents, Buyers, Festivals, Strategic Guidance
Synopsis:
Rebelling against the traditions of her Polish family during her American upbringing, Julia forges her own path in countercultures, documenting her queer, polyamorous life over 15 years. The birth of her daughter brings her back to Europe to confront her mother and the inherited scripts of womanhood. Together, they come to see liberation not as a destination, but as a negotiation with time, body, and power.
Director’s Profile:
Julia Maryanska is a Polish-American filmmaker and photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, creating work at the intersection of justice, eros, and culture-building. She has contributed to award-winning films including My Reincarnation and Regarding Susan Sontag, and co-directed the feature documentary The Village of Lovers, which toured internationally and streams on Films for Action. Her directorial debut, Intimate Revolutions was developed within the CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator and presented at When East Meets West as well as for the Krakow CEDOC Market. Julia has worked as an editor and producer of short films for boutique production companies, NGOs, and co-founded Re/Culture Media, producing films and immersive theater events.
Producer’s Profile:
Marc J. Francis is a director, producer and cinematographer. He was chosen by Harper’s Bazaar magazine as one of their top ‘Household names of the future’, and named by the Observer newspaper as one of Britain’s ‘Rising Stars’. His most recent film Walk With Me about Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as narrator, launched at the SXSW Film Festival and was a global box office hit before being released on Netflix and Amazon. His current directorial work includes a documentary featuring Elizabeth Gilbert (Author: “Eat, Pray, Love”) and her former Syrian-American partner Rayya Elias – who passed away after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Marc’s early directorial work includes Black Gold which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Barnstormers: Determined to Win
Genre: Historical
Produced by: Derek Ham, Logic Grip Inc.
Directed by: Derek Ham
Original Title: Barnstormers: Determined to Win
Lead Artist: Derek Ham
Runtime: 16min
Language: English
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
« Barnstormers: Determined to Win.” is an interactive VR experience set to the backdrop of Negro League Baseball. Experience a time when men were prevented from playing in the Major Leagues all because of the color of their skin. Players like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige are now brought to life in this immersive experience. Get introduced to this history from a first-person experience as the story unfolds around you.
Director’s statement:
Derek Ham, PhD is the founder of Logic Grip Inc., a VR company that looks to expand the way stories are told. He is also an Associate Professor and Department Head of Art + Design at NC State University’s College of Design. His work spans the areas of game-based learning, algorithmic thinking, and immersive media. Derek has a PhD in Design Computation from MIT, holds a Master’s in Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Hampton University.
Origin: US
Devices: Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: Alexandria
The Starry Sand Beach
Genre: Documentary, Fantasy
Produced by: Lucid Realities
Directed by: Nina Barbier, Hsin-Chien Huang
Original Title: La plage de sable étoilé
Lead Artist: Nina Barbier, Hsin-Chien Huang
Runtime: 15min
Language: French, English, Chinese
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
The Starry Sand Beach is a scientific tale in virtual reality that takes us on a journey to discover the star-shaped foraminifera, small organisms of crucial ecological importance threatened by global warming and ocean acidification. The experience is divided into three parts: the legend, the underwater forest, and the exploration of the Earth’s ancient geological memory. All throughout the experience and along with the foraminifera, you witness signs of the many threats to the marine and coral microorganisms, embodied by sea serpent symbolizing the acidification if the oceans. You are invited to travel vertically from the sea to the sky, starting in a small room before moving deep into the sea and finally returning to the stars.
Director’s statement:
Nina Barbier : In this project, I intended to match science and poetry, as the stars combine these two elements: for science, they are a plasmatic celestial corpse shining from their own light, but in a poetic and mythologic way, they tell stories and legends.
Hsin-Chien Huang : The essence of this experience is to understand the starry beach sensibly and rationally. Both the sensible mythical tale and the rational scientific explanation are equally important to create the full experience.
Origin: France
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link
Platform: Alexandria
End of Night
Genre: Drama, Narrative
Produced by: Mikkel Skov, A Makropol production - in co-production with Novelab
Directed by: David Adler
Original Title: Nattens ende
Lead Artist: David Adler
Runtime: 49 minutes
Language: English
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
1943. You are sitting in a boat with Josef. He is rowing from Nazi-occupied Denmark to safety in neutral Sweden. As the boat crosses the ocean, the sea gives way to the streets and people that populate his mind. Your journey together becomes a living landscape of painful recollections from the night of his escape. As dawn draws near, you will witness the trauma of escape and the guilt of surviving – when loved ones are left behind.
Director’s statement:
End of Night is a story that probes how the choices we make in the present eventually become memories. It is a reconstruction built from emotions like regret, nostalgia and pride. I want the audience to have a personal meeting with a refugee – someone whose life is defined by memories. I worked with the story of my family, as well as the stories of escape that have shaped my native city.
Origin: Denmark
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link
Platform: Alexandria
Red Tail EP.1
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Produced by: Yi-Ching CHEN, Zero One Film, Funique VR, Kaohsiung Film Archive, Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation
Directed by: Fish Wang
Original Title: 紅尾巴 EP.1
Lead Artist: Fish Wang
Runtime: 7min
Language: English, Mandarin
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
At a train station floating in the cloud, a mysterious red tail catches the boy’s attention. Chasing the red tail, the boy has traveled through countless magical places, ran into the bizarre creatures, and finally he meets the gentleman, who seems to know his secrets more than he does. When the red tail reminds the boy of his own memory and sadness, what’s the secrets hiding behind, and where will it lead him next?
Director’s statement:
During the period of growing from children to adults, numerous struggles happen. Teenagers are eager to be understood, while the physical changes of their bodies are easy to be noticed, the dramatic inner transformations are often ignored. Through this VR work, I would like to let the viewers know: We all have red tails, as pain is a part of growing up. Let’s enjoy our lives with tears and laughter, and we’ll all become a better self.
Origin: Taiwan
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: Alexandria
Delightful Garden VR – Sights of Sins by Hieronymus Bosch
Genre: Art/Culture, Educational, Narrative
Produced by: Michael Gödde, Videoreality GmbH
Directed by: Carolin Wedler
Original Title: Delightful Garden VR. Eine Virtual Reality Erfahrung im Garten der Lüste von Hieronymus Bosch
Lead Artist: Carolin Wedler
Runtime: 20min
Language: English
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
In the virtual reality experience DelightfulGardenVR, visitors can literally step through the canvas into Hieronymus Bosch’s « Garden of Delights » painting and experience an exciting adventure inside. The contents of the original painting were reconstructed in 3D and brought to life. The user learns more about the painting’s theme and motifs by helping a desperate garden inhabitant stoping his fellow human beings from sinning, in order to preserve the paradisiacal garden.
Director’s statement:
6 years ago our tiny team began the giant attempt to bring Hieronymus Bosch’s famous painting « The Garden of Earthly Delights » to life. To utilise the power of Virtual Reality and step through the canvas into the painting, to materialise this ancient world of symbolism and unparalleled imagination. We wanted to visit this place that doesn’t exist, so creating it turned out to be one of the most valuable journeys we went on. Today we can finally take other people with us into the garden.
Origin: Germany, Hessen
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: Alexandria
Glimpse
Genre: Animation, Drama
Produced by: Lee Harris, Mr Kite Ltd, Albyon
Directed by: Benjamin Cleary, Michael O'Connor
Original Title: Glimpse
Lead Artist: Benjamin Cleary, Michael O'Connor
Runtime: 23min
Language: English (French Subtitles)
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
A panda called Herbie is holed up in his illustrator studio after a bad breakup with a talented deer called Rice. Using Herbie’s art we delve back through the memories of their relationship from the heartbreaking end to the beautiful beginning; a dreamlike voyage through his mind, his heart and his illustrations.
Director’s statement:
Over the course of the piece we want someone to experience the full force of falling in love, dancing with another soul for a while and then losing that love as it all becomes a cosmos of memories.
Bringing Glimpse to life has been one of the most challenging and fulfilling projects we have ever undertaken. We set out to help define the grammar of immersive storytelling and contribute to the emerging canon.
Origin: UK, France, Ireland
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link
Platform: Alexandria
Luna: Episode 1 – Left Behind
Genre: Animation
Produced by: Charuvit Wannissorn
Directed by: Charuvit Wannissorn
Original Title: Luna: Episode 1 - Left Behind
Lead Artist: Charuvit Wannissorn
Runtime: 5min (Demo)
Language: English
Completed in: 2022
Synopsis:
LUNA: EPISODE 1 – LEFT BEHIND is an interactive VR story about an android and a little girl trying to survive an AI apocalypse. The machines seem to be after only one goal: to exterminate its creators. You, a small commercial droid, wake up and find your system to be reset. Can you, a droid with no combat capabilities, protect Luna? Can humanity be saved?
Origin: Canada
Devices: Oculus Quest series
Platform: VeeR
Genesis
Genre: Adventure, Documentary, Historical
Produced by: Maria Courtial, Faber Courtial - In cooperation with Telekom Magenta VR
Directed by: Jörg Courtial
Original Title: Genesis
Lead Artist: Jörg Courtial
Runtime: 13min
Language: English, German
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
GENESIS embarks on an emotionally intense virtual reality journey to experience the dramatic milestones in the evolution of earth and mankind. An immersive 24 h metaphor of 4.7 bn years of evolution that reveals: We are children of galactic luck, born in the final second of eternity.
Director’s statement:
It took an eternity for the Earth to become the place we know and then came a being who, in the blink of an eye, actively changed the planet like nothing before. Our film tells our story. So far children of galactic luck. Our planet lies in the habitable zone, equipped to protect us from a hostile universe, yet it is no longer cosmic catastrophes that threaten us, but we ourselves. The greatest extinction of species happened 250 mya ending an era of immense diversity of life forms. It cannot be ruled out that this catastrophe will be repeated due to our influence on environmental conditions.
Origin: Germany
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: VeeR, Alexandria
Marco & Polo Go Round
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Romance
Produced by: Audrey Pacart, Paul-E. Audet, Pierre Even, Alain-Gilles Viellevoye, Item 7, Belga Productions
Directed by: Benjamin Steiger Levine
Original Title: Marco & Polo Go Round
Lead Artist: Benjamin Steiger Levine
Runtime: 12min
Language: English, French
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
On the morning of his birthday, Marco discovers the cake Polo has lovingly made and left for him on the kitchen table. He also notices that every object in the kitchen has been battened down with tape and twine as if to safeguard against an oncoming storm. What begins as a beautiful morning for the young couple takes a surreal turn when their world literally falls apart around them.
Director’s statement:
For years, images of a sun-drenched kitchen slowly coming apart as gravity mysteriously turned on its head kept playing through my mind. I began to realize the kitchen in my mind looked a lot like the one I shared with my first girlfriend, a person who I loved in ways that were not realistic and who ultimately broke my heart. And so, Marco and Polo’s adventure was born, inspired by intimate lived experiences that play out in a world where gravity is coming apart.
To explore the beauty, mystery, heartache of love in the context of a dreamlike, visceral, action sequence seemed unique to me. My hope is that Marco & Polo Go Round introduces adult audiences to VR content that is a physical thrill ride as well as emotionally honest and fulfilling.
Origin: Canada, Belgium
Plateform: Not Available