Joel Benson – Story developer

JOEL ‘KACHI BENSON is passionate about stories, and has been making documentary stories for over a decade. In 2018, he was introduced to the world of Virtual Reality, and became the first Nigerian filmmaker to use Virtual Reality technology for storytelling, when he produced “In Bakassi”, a virtual experience of life in one of the largest IDP Camps in Northeast Nigeria.

In April 2019, ‘Kachi Benson produced his second VR film, “Daughters of Chibok”, a film that takes viewers into the heart of one of the unsolved mysteries of in Nigeria’s war against insurgency. Daughters of Chibok made history, when it won the Venice Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival, making ‘Kachi Benson the first African to win the prestigious prize in the Virtual Reality category. Joel ‘Kachi Benson is a firm believer in the use of storytelling as a catalyst for positive change, and he has presented lectures at several fora, including The Pan Atlantic University, American University, Yola; University of Lagos, and Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communication.

Kachi Benson is listed on the Top 100 Most Influential Africans (NAM 2019), and inducted into the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) Class of 2021.

He lives and works in Nigeria, and is currently filming the documentary feature Madu for Disney+, and The Harvest for Impact Pictures.

Avinash Changa – Creative technologist
Avinash Changa is VR-maker, director, Creative Technologist, and international speaker on the topic of Immersive works. He is founder of WeMakeVR, with notable productions such as ‘Ashes to Ashes’, ‘Meeting Rembrandt’, ‘Angels of Amsterdam’, ‘O | A | E’, and most recently “The Da Vinci Effect”.

“Angels” was part of the official 78th Venice Biennale selection, and the first Dutch VR work ever to be selected for the competition. Avinash is also involved behind the scenes of “The MetaMovie presents: Alien Rescue”, a metaverse (live social VR) experience which won “Best Multiplayer Experience” during Raindance 2021, “Best Experience of the Year” at the XR Must Awards 2021, and “Experience of the Year” at the 2022 VR Awards.

Currently he is working on the next generation of immersive experiences, including new live social VR/Metaverse performances, hybrid theatre/music/vr works, educational works, high-end volumetrics, and “shared space” multiuser VR experiences.

Allison Crank  – UX designer

Allison Crank is a UX Designer & Researcher exploring the intersection of art, technology, and architecture. As a designer specializing in interactive storytelling with new media such as immersive games and experiences in VR, she’s worked with clients including Google, Montreux Jazz Archives, MIT, Gilcrease Museum, the UN, AtlasV, Albyon, Raumwelten Festival, and the Trickfilm Animation Festival.
She’s currently in production on 4 VR games and leading the UX design for several interactive museums and public installations.
Her most recent projects include being the curator and lead designer for the 2022 Raumwelten Festival for architecture, scenography, and media as well as the design lead for Polaris, a community-driven social media news application as well as Pix.T a block-chain backed photojournalism platform. She was also the UX Designer and Production Project Manager for the GLIMPSE, starring Taron Egerton & Lucy Boynton, directed by Academy Award-winning writer/director Benjamin Cleary and Michael O’Conner.
She also teaches immersive virtual architecture and level design at the AA Visiting School and Spatial Design at the HSLU in Lucerne.

Raphael Penasa – Producer

Raphael was the founder and creative producer of Fauns, an independent award-winning animation studio, for 10 years. 2 years ago, he sold it to AtlasV, an immersive group, renaming the company Albyon.

Since then, Raphael has worked as an independent development executive producer. He spent the

last 2 years working on projects for Google, Sun Creature (EP on Splinter Cell for Netflix), and other companies (Noor, Worldcrunch). He works at the edge of narrative and innovation, focusing on new approaches for the market and how to develop new IPs learning from both the wins and fails over the years. Today, he focuses on live-action and animation tv series, video games (AA), and immersive projects. His latest productions are Battlescar (VR experience – 48 awards in 2 years) and Glimpse (VR experience – 13 selections and 3 prizes since the Mostra of Venice last year).

Raphael works mostly with authors, directors, producers, and distributors and offers support to the core team to keep the big picture, fit the scope (with ideas and talents), and define the overall budget.

He is currently working for PGS Entertainment on an unannounced tv series and for Mi-Clos Studio on a future video game. His VR game Amazing Monster! is currently in production, produced by wowl (SW) and Small Studio (FR), and his next-gen game Robot+Butterfly just received the support of the CNC (FR) in writing.”

Michael Salmon – World building

Michael is a VR producer, consultant, and founder/CEO of KRAKED and Associated Industries, an XR studio exploring the intersection of social VR, art and music and GlitchAR, a studio focused on AR and MR.  He has been part of the XR community since Oculus shipped their first dev kits in 2013.  During his time as head of Immersive Technology at NBCUniversal he set up the studio’s first dedicated immersive entertainment team and was the creator/producer on many XR productions.  These include large-scale, multi-million dollar experiences, technical R&D projects, and 2 years of researching and prototyping a social VR product.  His work includes 2019′s Eleven Eleven (creator/producer) which launched at SXSW, featured in the Best of VR category at Venice, and nominated for a Producers Guild of America Innovation Award. He co-produced 2016′s hybrid TV/VR series Halycon for Syfy channel, a Primetime Emmy finalist for which he conducted the world’s first VR press junket in AltspaceVR.

Michael is a producer at the Venice and Red Sea film festivals and is currently in production on a social VR/music experience IamMUSIC.  Known as Manglebird in VRChat he experiments with world building, DJing and is a proud member of the artist collective the Metaverse Crew.

Paul Tyler – Visualizer

2006 Paul Tyler (UK) set-up Handling Ideas to provide online & in-person story consultancy for writers, directors and producers around the world. His unique method for handling stories draws out the relationship between story, theme and audience. He brings years of experience developing & creating concepts, strategies & projects within the cultural, public & corporate sectors that all started with four years in theatre production and touring, followed by twelve years at the BBC, ending up as a TV producer and studio gallery director. Paul applies a highly developed analytical, creative & often humorous approach to reveal the complex ecosystems in which we work, rest and play. Paul is based in Copenhagen.

Tosca Teran – Art direction

Tosca Terán is an interdisciplinary artist whose work is a confluence of art, ecology, and craft.
Her work has been featured at The Harwood Museum, SOFA New York, The Toronto Design Exchange, MOCA Toronto, The Ontario Science Centre, Music Works, Myndlistaskolinn Reykjavík, Vector Festival, Studio Art & Craft Canada, SONICA21, Glasna Music, NAISA (New Adventures in Sound Art), AMAZE Berlin, The Venice Film Festival VR Expanded, Raindance Immersive and Ars Electronica.
She is a recipient of funding support and residencies from the Goethe-Institut Montreal, The Canada Arts Council, BigCi Environmental Award Australia, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, SUNY Buffalo’s Coalesce Centre for Biological Art for her immersive projects.
Tosca founded nanopod: Hybrid Studio (2005) in Toronto, offering creatives a safe space to explore biodata, and electronic integrations in metal, glass, and immersive technologies.

Penelope Walcott – Sound

I am an experienced sound designer, editor and field recordist. I am originally from
Vancouver, BC, but now reside in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. I have recently completed my year as one of 6 participants across Canada chosen by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television/Women in Post program. One of the best experiences I had within this program was an internship with Company 3 (one of the top 3 post-production companies in North America) to shadow and be mentored by members of the senior audio post-production staff. I began my career in sound as both a classical pianist and composer, having performed in Canada, UK, US and Italy; with pieces performed in Canada, Japan and the UK.

When I studied for my PhD in the UK, I began to explore field recording, specializing in industrial and metallic sounds; but in general I enjoy recording sounds from the man-made to audio occurring in the natural world. I have begun to include first order ambisonic recording as part of my process.

After my degrees, I completed a diploma in audio engineering, discovered post audio for film. I completed another diploma in sound design, and since then I have worked in both location sound and audio post for about 7 years. My experience includes extensive field recording work, foley and sound design. I have edited and mastered various short films, animations, and documentaries. One of the latest films I had the honour of working on (Talk), was showcased on an interview for Breakfast Television this year.

I am appreciative of the experience that I have gained working in both the production and post-production worlds, as they have helped me understand better how these teams work collaboratively. For me, sound design is one of the most effective tools for creative story-telling, and I am always honoured to deepen both my knowledge and creative energy in the audio-visual medium. I am currently working on several projects that incorporate sound design, interactive and immersive media and am exploring narratives that are both personal/social and historical. I am driven by the need to ensure that new immersive technology is available to all and accessible to all.