If you own an Oculus Quest or Go headset then hopefully you spent some of last week enjoying Tribeca Immersive’s Cinema360 programme which had 15 short films to enjoy. Tomorrow that trend continues as Bigscreen will play film festival host to documentary Ask No Questions.
Toronto-based Lofty Sky Pictures will be holding the event on the popular virtual reality (VR) app due to the current pandemic halting its festival run. Premiering at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City during January, the VR screenings will offer a live Q&A with the filmmaker whilst helping to support the nonprofit Roxie Theater.
Four shows will take place tomorrow with tickets available through Eventbrite. The times for each screening are as follows.
- 1st Screening – 10 am PT / 1 pm ET
- 2nd Screening – 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET
- 3rd Screening – 4 pm PT / 7 pm ET
- Final Screening – 7 pm PT / 10 pm ET
“VR is not a replacement for the cinema,” says “Ask No Questions” director/producer Jason Loftus in a statement “But with the world on lockdown, it’s the closest we can get to that shared experience that makes a film festival so unique. We also wanted to support an independent theatre because we believe it’s such an important platform for independent filmmakers.”
“Ask No Questions tells the story of a former Chinese state TV insider who is held in a brainwashing camp and compelled to accept the official narrative on a fiery public suicide, which he believes was a government plot,” explains the synopsis. “The film’s themes of misinformation, propaganda, and the perils faced by whistleblowers in China are timely given the initial coverup of the coronavirus and the reprisals faced by the initial whistleblowing doctors.”
Bigscreen Beta supports a wide range of headsets including HTC Vive, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality, Oculus Rift, Oculus Go and Oculus Quest, all for free – no PlayStation VR support at the moment. As Bigscreen Beta continues to add further content, VRFocus will keep you updated on all the latest announcements.
The idea was conceived by artist Dekker Dreyer who worked on a number of the projects previously mentioned. “This is such an important project to me. We feel so isolated sometimes. We’re afraid to express ourselves because of what the comments will say or what we imagine our colleagues or friends will think of us. Creating this alternate reality / identity where we can tell our stories in a visually powerful environment is liberating. I’m humbled to be able to help bring this experience to the Slamdance Film Festival. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a project being created during a festival with the participation of both audiences and filmmakers. Slamdance is an incredible creative community and I can’t wait to see how they bring this project to life.”