Today, the BBC has released its next virtual reality (VR) project via the BBC VR app, documentary series called Congo VR, taking viewers into the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Heading into one of Africa’s most dangerous and stunning countries on assignment with BBC News Africa correspondent Alastair Leithead, the three-part series has been produced by BBC VR Hub and BBC News.
A sequel to Damming the Nile VR, which took viewers to Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, Congo VR explores this conflicted country, with the first episode heading to capital Kinshasa, joining pygmies on a forest hunt, and stopping off at the ruined luxury palace of former dictator President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Episode two goes fishing in Congo river rapids before joining UN peacekeepers who are dealing with militant groups and an Ebola outbreak. While episode three travels deep into the rainforest where viewers will come face-to-face with Eastern Lowland Gorillas
“To take viewers on an immersive journey up the Congo River is a great opportunity for them to experience just how much more there is to this vast country than the stereotypes of war and disease,” said Leithead in a statement. “The DRC has been haunted by the image of Conrad’s novella the Heart of Darkness for more than a century, but it’s a beautiful, rich and vibrant place. Hopefully, by going on an expedition with us on the river, viewers will get a deeper understanding of the history, the challenges, and the great potential of the DRC.”
Zillah Watson, head of BBC VR Hub, commented: “This wonderful follow up to the award-winning Damming the Nile VR takes you right into the heart of this dangerous but beautiful country, somewhere the vast majority of us are never likely to visit. Riding along in the UN’s armoured vehicles you can feel the very palpable sense of danger, and getting so close to the Eastern Lowland gorillas in such an immersive way is an extraordinary thing to see. That’s the beauty of VR, it can give you experiences you could never get anywhere else.”
To see Congo VR all you’ll need to do is download the free BBC VR app for either Samsung Gear VR or Oculus Go. For further additions to the app, keep reading VRFocus.
“We wanted to find a way to really connect the stories of the suffragettes to our lives – we didn’t want the aesthetics of Victorian England to get in the way of the fact that standing up for something when people are trying to shut you down is something we all can relate to,” said May Abdalla, co-founder and director of Anagram, who directed Make Noise. “By using bold abstracts shapes to make playful worlds that mess with scale, each chapter represents the emotional journey of their path to victory; from frustration though finding solidarity and resistance. In these strange visual universes the punk attitude of these inspirational women really stands out.”
There is perhaps one building that symbolises both the city and the time more than any other – the famed Acropolis of Athens and more specifically the Parthenon. A white marble temple, it was dedicated to worship of Athena who was also known as Athene and would later become the Roman goddess Minerva when the pantheon was ‘adopted’ so to speak. Commonly symbolised by an owl, Athena was goddess of many spheres of influence most notably wisdom and war. But specifically, also courage, strategy and strategic warfare, as well as inspiration, civilisation, law and/or justice, mathematics, strength, arts and crafts and also skill.
To give you an idea of the sort of cases currently being discussed and the scope of the court, at the time of writing the court is dealing with everything from:
Blue Planet II‘s highlighting of the realities of plastic waste pollution has brought a topic longstanding to prominence by presenting the horrifying realities of how we are affecting the Earth’s oceans and interfering with the natural order. This has seen a move to cut down on plastics in everything from packaging to drinking straws and ear buds.