Category: VIFF Immersive

Posted on

VR Film Homestay Wins BC Spotlight Audience Award

The inaugural VIFF Immersed Exhibition recently took place at the Vancouver Film Festival, presented by Samsung VR Video with the aim of featuring compelling content from creators from all over the world. Several virtual reality (VR) experiences were featured, with one VR film, Homestay, being awarded the BC Spotlight Audience Award from Creative BC.

The public exhibition was sold out, and featured fifteen VR experiences, including three world premieres. Homestay, a film by Paisley Smith, Matthew Borrett, the National Film Board and Jam3 celebrated its Canadian premiere and the award it was subsequently given.

The VIFF Immersed Exhibtion took place between 29th September to 2nd October and was curated by StoryTech Immersive, focussed on the best available immersive storytelling and aiming to showcase leading creators in VR as well as augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR).

“VIFF has celebrated excellence in screen-based storytelling since 1982 and in 2018 inaugurated a new initiative to engage both audiences and creators by diving into the art and science of narrative on Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality platforms,” said Jacqueline Dupuis, VIFF Executive Director. “VIFF Immersed is a place for excellence in narrative content that is available for distribution to audiences across multiple immersive platforms. It is also the forum for creators, buyers, distributors and technologies meet, learn, experience and collaborate to raise the bar for narrative content and grow the industry.”

VIFF Immersed also launched the ‘BC Tech Crawl’ where a group of international distributors, producers, tech companies and guests are given an opportunity to experience the technical ecosystem of British Columbia, Canada. Delegates are able to experience various immersive projects, such as the HoloLens Transformation Mask, and meet up with a collection of immersive content creators visiting from South Korea. The Tech Crawl is intended to offer networking and business opportunities to attendees.

For future coverage of VIFF Immersive and other VR-related events, keep checking back with VRFocus.

Posted on

VIFF Announces its Program of Immersive Content

The Vancouver International Film Festival was one of the earliest film festivals to begin embracing and exploring immersive media such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Since 2014 the festival has had VR content, and now it will be expanding its VR program with the inaugural VIFF Immersed conference and public exhibition.

The New Realities in Storytelling Conference is a high-level event which is focussed on artistic execution and commercial market viability, while BC Immersed is a day of workshops aimed at producers, directors and content commissioners who want to get involved with immersive production.

The VIFF Immersed Exhibition, meanwhile, is a three-day public event which will feature a range of AR, VR and mixed reality (MR) experiences using a wide variety of immersive technology platforms. The aim is to showcase the most important creators, platforms and technologies in the developing industry.

“VIFF’s mission is to celebrate excellence in screen-based storytelling. And while the technologies of content consumption and creation have changed over time, story remains king. Immersive content, whether displayed inside a head mounted display, on a dome or on a mobile phone or computer, brings innovations in storytelling,” said Jacqueline Dupuis, VIFF’s Executive Director. “By the numbers, BC is one of the top immersive content ecosystems in the world. Our proximity to the Cascadia region, a hotbed for creative-tech, and our reach down the West Coast into Silicon Valley and LA, make for a strong value proposition for creators, producers and tech sector to participate in this opportunity to further the advancement of the medium.”

The New Realities in Storytelling Conference is due to take place on 29th September, BC Immersed on 30th September and VIFF Immersed Exhibition from 30th September to 2nd October.

Further information about the VIFF Immersed events can be found on the Vancouver International Film Festival website. For future coverage on upcoming VR-related events, keep checking back with VRFocus.

Posted on

VIFF Announces its Program of Immersive Content

The Vancouver International Film Festival was one of the earliest film festivals to begin embracing and exploring immersive media such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Since 2014 the festival has had VR content, and now it will be expanding its VR program with the inaugural VIFF Immersed conference and public exhibition.

The New Realities in Storytelling Conference is a high-level event which is focussed on artistic execution and commercial market viability, while BC Immersed is a day of workshops aimed at producers, directors and content commissioners who want to get involved with immersive production.

The VIFF Immersed Exhibition, meanwhile, is a three-day public event which will feature a range of AR, VR and mixed reality (MR) experiences using a wide variety of immersive technology platforms. The aim is to showcase the most important creators, platforms and technologies in the developing industry.

“VIFF’s mission is to celebrate excellence in screen-based storytelling. And while the technologies of content consumption and creation have changed over time, story remains king. Immersive content, whether displayed inside a head mounted display, on a dome or on a mobile phone or computer, brings innovations in storytelling,” said Jacqueline Dupuis, VIFF’s Executive Director. “By the numbers, BC is one of the top immersive content ecosystems in the world. Our proximity to the Cascadia region, a hotbed for creative-tech, and our reach down the West Coast into Silicon Valley and LA, make for a strong value proposition for creators, producers and tech sector to participate in this opportunity to further the advancement of the medium.”

The New Realities in Storytelling Conference is due to take place on 29th September, BC Immersed on 30th September and VIFF Immersed Exhibition from 30th September to 2nd October.

Further information about the VIFF Immersed events can be found on the Vancouver International Film Festival website. For future coverage on upcoming VR-related events, keep checking back with VRFocus.