Cannes XR
VeeR Future Award Projects
Projects
Deja-vu
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Narrative
Produced by: Martin Schmidt, Raumkapsel Animation
Directed by: Dennis Stein-Schomburg
Original title: Déjà-vu
Lead artist: Dennis Stein-Schomburg
Runtime: 15-30 minutes (Variable due to interactive aspect.)
Language: English
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
In the city of “Evia” residents are infected with light. A girl discovers what appears to be the host. She befriends it and houses it. Not to the delight of the other residents who want to drive the host away. A persecution begins…
Director’s statement:
People shape cities. But who are these people and how do they react when an apparent threat invades their living space.
In Deajvu its about exploring a detailed world to linger, combine and make up your own experience.
Origin: Germany
Devices: Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR
Genre: Adventure, Documentary, Sports
Produced by: Jonathan Griffith Productions
Directed by: Jonathan Griffith
Original title: Alex Honnold : The Soloist VR
Lead artist: Jonathan Griffith
Runtime: 2x 30 minutes
Language: English
Completed in: 2022
Synopsis:
A gripping two part series following Alex Honnold around his stomping grounds in the US before taking you to the high mountains of the European Alps. Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR is a ground-breaking VR production using the latest in high resolution 3D 360° capture in some of the most remote and wildest locations possible. From the director and Producer of Everest VR : Journey to the Top of the World , this experience brings you right by Alex’s side as he solos thousands of feet above the ground. In Episode 1 of Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR, viewers begin by getting to know Honnold, before following him to Yosemite National Park, home of the famed El Capitan, and Red Rocks. Viewers are then brought to Europe where Honnold teams up with Swiss climber and Red Bull athlete Nicolas Hojac to tackle some of the toughest climbs in the Dolomites.
Director’s statement:
The film is the result of two years of meticulous planning and crafting. What really sets it apart aside the visuals is the narrative. Leaning on the strenghts of VR we striped the entire experience down to the bare bones; you will find yourself fully immersed in a live action adventure- there is no voice over, and only minimal music. The end result is a far more intense and immersive experience because of it.
Origin: UK
Devices: HTC Vive series/Ocolus Rift series/Quest
Platform: VeeR, Alexandria
Virtual Virtual Reality 2
Genre: Action/Adventure
Produced by: J Noland, Yuxin Gao, Tender Claws
Directed by: Samantha Gorman, Danny Cannizarro
Original title: Virtual Virtual Reality 2
Lead artist: Samantha Gorman
Runtime: 10 hours
Language: English
Completed in: 2022
Synopsis:
Virtual Virtual Reality 2 (VVR2) is a 10 hour comedy, satire game. The latest project from Tender Claws and a highly-anticipated sequel to their 2017 VR game Virtual Virtual Reality (VVR). In this darkly funny action-adventure game, pilot your mech body through the chaos of a dying metaverse, rescuing abandoned avatars along the way. Each new avatar-roommate brings unique tools to aid your escape back to meatspace!
Director’s statement:
VVR2 satirically explores the stakes of a privatized metaverse. Who is responsible for sustaining our digital “public commons”? You have left your body behind to upload into the peaceful retirement community of Scottsdale. Suddenly! Scottsdale’s VC funding is pulled and the servers begin to shut down one by one. Without the ability to log off, players have no choice but to outrun the digital destruction – ultimately escaping the metaverse and finding a new home in meatspace.
Origin: US
Devices: Oculus Quest 2
Platform: VeeR
Clap
Genre: Animation
Produced by: Hiroko Fujioka, Katsutoshi Machiba, Tetsuya Ohashi, WOWOW, CinemaLeap
Directed by: Keisuke Itoh
Original title: Clap
Lead artist: Keisuke Itoh
Runtime: 13min
Language: Non-dialogue (Just a few instruction in English)
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
One rainy day, “thread man” is walking down an alley when an empty can falls in front of him. He tries to create the sound himself by wearing the can on his foot and starts to dance.
Soon a crowd of people gather around him, and the sound of applause grows ever louder, though with the increased volume comes increased pressure.
Why did the thread man become scared of the sound of clapping?
When your heartfelt applause reaches the thread man, which signals the beginning of a beautiful sound.
Director’s statement:
“Clap” is a work of VR animation that you can experience simply by clapping your hands. A number of meanings are imbued in that single action, however, making the interaction of “Clap” quite profound.
Life doesn’t always go as we like, and we sometimes get depressed. At times like that, I invite you to encourage others, and yourself as well, through “Clap.”
All right, then. Clap your hands a lot with a positive attitude!
Origin: Japan
Devices: Oculus Quest series
Platform: VeeR
Madame Pirate: Becoming a Legend
Genre: Adventure, Biopic, Historical
Produced by: Estela VALDIVIESO CHEN, Adam Cullen YOUNG | Co-producers: Jinyao LIN, Hazel WU + Serendipity FilmsSy
Directed by: Morgan OMMER, Dan-Chi HUANG
Original title: 女海盜：成名之路
Runtime: 15min
Language: English, Mandarin
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
The untold story of Cheng I Sao, the greatest pirate of all times.
In a lawless world, overrun by roving ships and ruthless men, a girl propels herself from a life of forced prostitution, to command the largest and most successful pirate fleet in world history. A grandma narrates an extraordinary bedtime story to her granddaughter. It turns out, there is more to this tale than helping put her child to sleep. This story is Cheng I Sao’s incredible real life story.
Director’s statement:
The most formidable pirate of all times is not a bearded man with a parrot on his shoulder, or a monkey by his side. The greatest pirate in history is a 19th Century Chinese woman, who started from nothing and successfully led 60,000 ruthless pirates into battle. History barely remembers her, she is only known as Cheng I Sao, the wife of Cheng. Yet at the helm of her fleet (The Red Flags) she defeated the Qing Dynasty’s Imperial Navy and her allies, the Portuguese and the British. Repeatedly. We decided to tell this extraordinary story in VR, as a fairy tale, using a mix of live action footage, to transport the viewer on to the deck of a 19th Century Chinese pirate junk and Tilt Brush, a VR painting tool. Last but not least, the tale is told in the words of a poet as befits any good bedtime story. Our story is part history, part legend and mostly the fruit of a child’s imagination.
Origin: Taiwan
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: VeeR, Alexandria
Area Man Lives
Genre: Comedy
Produced by: Michael Perrotto, Numinous Games in association with Cyan Ventures and City Lights
Directed by: Amy Noel Green, Ryan Green
Original title: Area Man Lives
Lead artist: Amy Noel Green, Ryan Green
Runtime: 120-300 minutes of gameplay (Variable length)
Language: English
Completed in: 2022
Synopsis:
AREA MAN LIVES. Or does he? A quirky radio drama unfolds around you in VR while you do your best to keep the radio station humming along as its new DJ. You speak out loud to produce commercials, interview callers and have conversations with your producer. Try your best to piece together how your actions inside the station impact your listening audience. And when things get super weird, don’t forget to save the Area Man.
Director’s statement:
AREA MAN LIVES is a hilariously absurd VR adventure that uses unique storytelling to reveal what we believe about our place in the world and surface questions of destiny, examining how those beliefs connect us to others or drive us apart. We believe that everyone wants to be seen and that when we choose to connect with others we discover all the profound ways that we matter.
Origin: US
Devices: Oculus Quest series
Platform: VeeR
Lavrynthos
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Produced by: Amir Admoni, Fabito Rychter, Delirium XR
Directed by: Amir Admoni, Fabito Rychter
Original title: Lavrynthos
Lead artist: Amir Admoni, Fabito Rychter
Runtime: 20min
Language: English
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
Lavrynthos places you at the heart of the labyrinth of Crete to tell you the story of the unlikely relationship between the Minotaur and his next meal: a girl named Cora. A contemporary Greek tragedy paying homage to the cradle of modern dramatic theory while challenging it at the same time. Lavrynthos is a humorous take on a 3000 years old myth updating it with themes and topics that are relevant in this day and age.
Director’s statement:
Every storyteller should pray everyday to saint Aristoteles. The creator of modern dramatic theory. The original Robert Mckee. There’s no question that Greece is the cradle of storytelling the way we know it and theater was their medium. By representing the oldest medium of storytelling on the most modern one, that is VR, we feel we are going the full circle. And what we like about it is that we aren’t just retelling an old story but updating it to our times by bringing modern themes and topics.
Origin: Brazil
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest
Platform: VeeR, Alexandria
Original title: Montegelato
Lead artist: Davide Rapp
Runtime: 28 minutes or 15 minutes
Language: No dialogue
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
MONTEGELATO is a montage film in VR, the first of its kind. Hundreds of cinematic sequences define a three-dimensional collage of the Monte Gelato waterfalls (Rome, Italy) as they have been filmed in more than 180 productions including films, TV series and commercials. From peplum to western, from comedy to thriller, from science-fiction to erotica: sounds and videos expand in an immersive landscape that transports the Falls in time and space.
Director’s statement:
“I have never visited the Monte Gelato waterfalls and yet they have always been familiar to me: since I was a child I have noticed them in the background of dozens of films that have shaped me. For the last five years I have been obsessively accumulating old DVDs, very rare VHSs and brittle Super-8s, trying to compile the complete filmography of a place that cinema has transported to Ancient Greece, the Far West or Nazi-occupied France. Isolated from the films to which they belong, the different scenes are aligned in a layered landscape that through virtual reality expands the limits of the cinematic screen to pay homage to the richness and inventiveness of Italian Cinema”.
Origin: Italy
Plateform: Not Available
The Passengers
Produced by: Couzin Films, Canada & Les Produits Frais, France
Directed by: Ziad Touma
Original title: Les Passagers
Lead artist: Ziad Touma
Runtime: 4 x 10min
Language: French, English
Completed in: 2021
Synopsis:
The Passengers is the story of four strangers traveling together in a train. Discover the inner world of each of them: a woman questions her motherhood, a man must overcome his shyness, a lady is struggling with her memories and a kid feels guilty about his parents’ separation. Enter the thoughts of one character at a time, to hear their inner voice, see their memories and live their emotions. You can change the course of the story with your gaze, voice and gestures. Welcome aboard!
Director’s statement:
The Passengers combines different technologies to create an innovative interactive experience. The use of mocap to record the actors’ performances preserves the most humanity in their features, while being responsive to the user’s gaze and gestures in real time. The art direction of each of the four point of views features a distinct animation style to represent each character’s unique outlook. The Passengers’ flashbacks were shot in live action 360 stereoscopic images.
Origin: Québec, Canada, France
Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link
Platform: Alexandria