La Biennale di Venezia has announced the 12 projects that participated in Venice, from January 10th to 16th 2019, in the first workshop of the 3rd Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality (2018 – 2019). The session on Tuesday, January 15th 2019, held in Venice at the headquarters of the Biennale at Ca’ Giustinian, was introduced by the President Paolo Baratta.
Biennale College – Cinema
This is the initiative of the Biennale di Venezia that promotes new talents in cinema by offering them the opportunity to work side by side with the masters to make micro-budget feature films. Biennale College is a complex and innovative experience that engages all the Departments of the Biennale di Venezia.
Biennale College – Cinema Virtual Reality
A recent project developed by the Biennale di Venezia with the aim of exploring the most innovative and exciting technology of the moment: Virtual Reality. A maximum of 3 teams composed of a director and a producer will be selected to work on the development of virtual reality projects up to 30 minutes long.
The international Call for the 3rd BCC – VR
The international Call for the Biennale College – Cinema Virtual Reality was launched on September 2nd 2018.
The first workshop of the 3rd edition
The 12 teams that authored the selected projects (composed of a director and a producer), participated in the first workshop held in Venice from January 10th to 16th 2018.
Presentation of the 12 projects of the 3rd edition
In a session that took place from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm on Tuesday January 15th 2019, the 12 teams presented their projects, offering a brief account of the various aspects involved in the creation of their stories, of their personal careers, their specific influences and their vision of Virtual Reality.
Selection of VR projects at the 76th Venice Film Festival
At the end of February, a maximum of 3 VR projects will be selected, each of which will receive a contribution towards production up to a maximum of € 60,000 each, and will be presented at the 76th Venice International Film Festival 2019 in the Venice Virtual Reality section, launched very successfully in 2017.
The 12 projects of the 3rd edition selected for the first workshop:
How is the Water | Ninja Müller (director, Germany) - Michal Lovecký (producer, Czech Republic)
Global menaces are changing our oceans. In the invisible reality of marine life today, a group of dolphins fights to survive
This is for you | Mercedes Arturo (director, Argentina) – Gabrielle Floquet (producer, France)
A gift can be an object. An object carries its own story. Unwrap the gift.
Goliath | Barry Gene Murphy (director, UK) – May Abdalla (producer, UK)
Goliath is an interactive VR documentary on how a man loses his memory, then finds it through the virtual world of social gaming. In candid first-person interviews, engaging animated reconstructions and meaningful interactive activities that draw us into the story, Goliath explores the meaning of feeling in contrast with the world and how one can create a shared reality to find one’s place within it.
Doubts of Genius | Matteo Lonardi (director, Italy) – Francesco Lonardi (producer, Italy)
This is a VR experience about failure. We will go on a journey of transformation through the failures of one of most famous artists and innovators of all time: Leonardo Da Vinci, allowing the user to experience the redeeming power of art.
Open the Door to the 20th Century: the Scitovszky Villa | Zsolt Magyari (director, Hungary) – Tamas Olajos (producer, Hungary)
Fragments of modern history told in a journey through Villa Scitovszky, guided by those who lived in it.
Feather | Ito Keisuke (director, Japan) - Katsutoshi Machiba (producer, Japan)
Watch a young girl grow up and use PUSH* to push her to be brave and deal with difficult situations.
My Room | Uta Arning (director, Germany) – Tina Lin (producer, Chinese Taipei)
In the near future, a young woman lives in public view, 24 hours a day. A victim of the perversion of Social Media, her only companion is a robot cat. Her apartment is a stage that she never leaves. When the cat breaks, she begins to question her own existence.
Ways to School | Zohar Kfir (director, Israel) - Katayoun Dibamehr (producer, France)
Ways to School is a series of VR documentaries about social justice that allows the viewer into the imaginary world of a child. This unique VR experience highlights the course of the educational process in different traditions and geopolitical and developmental contexts. This project will be expanded, finally, into a VR series of episodes that will tell the parallel stories of 5 children from around the world, for whom going to school is a real journey.
Sublimation | Karolina Markiewicz, Pascal Piron (directors, Luxembourg) – Astrid Kahmke (producer, Germany)
Dance fluently in butoh, sublimate and discover your impact on the environment.
Frontera | Emiliana Ammirata (director, Venezuela) – Helena Carpio (producer, Venezuela)
A Venezuelan refugee is desperately seeking medicines on the south-eastern border between Brazil and Venezuela. An interactive telephone call from her son who is waiting for her at home will change everything.
Queerskins Ark | Illya Szilak, Cyril Tsiboulski (director, USA) - Kathleen Fox (producer, USA)
A devoted Catholic mother seeks reconciliation with the son she has lost to AIDS. Reading his diary, she imagines he is alive and in love.
Whispers | Patryk Jordanowicz (director, Poland) – Jacek Naglowski (producer, Poland)
On the Polish-Bielorussian border, where East meets West, Nature is wild and mysterious. Life and death do not imply the persistence and disappearance of some biological processes, but they have an irrational, impenetrable and non-verbal power that structures reality as a whole. This is where the whisperers live. They heal using Oriental traditions: the power of words, gestures and images.
The MEDIA – Creative Europe Programme
For the 2018/2019 edition, the Biennale College – Cinema and Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality projects have received generous funding from the MEDIA – Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission – General Direction Connect. The educational activities of the 2018/2019 edition will enjoy the support of MEDIA funding. This funding is in addition to the support received from the MEDIA Programme for the development of the Venice Production Bridge.
Biennale College – Cinema, organized by the Biennale di Venezia, is supported by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema. The sponsor is the Università Telematica Pegaso. Condé Nast supports the project. Biennale College – Cinema enjoys the academic collaboration of IFP in New York and the TorinoFilmLab. The Director is Alberto Barbera, Head of Programme is Savina Neirotti.