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Margot Robbie, Mark Ruffalo, Daisy Ridley and Omar Sy are among some of the high-profile acting talent attached to projects selected for Venice Immersive, the XR – Extended Reality section of the 83rd Venice Intl. Film Festival.
Other leading names associated with the projects include actresses Kathleen Turner and Isabelle Huppert, actor-director Andy Serkis and composer A. R. Rahman.
The section, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is “focused on the next wave of immersive art and storytelling,” according to the festival.
Among the highlights are “Nevatars,” directed by Serkis, and voiced by Ridley and Turner, and “Galapagos: The Last Eden,” directed by Anthony Geffen, and voiced by Robbie.
These two projects are “experienced on never previously seen next generation smart glass devices,” which “mark a significant evolution in the possibilities of immersive storytelling,” the festival said.
Other projects include “Artou,” directed by renowned Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, and voiced by Sy, who is also one of the producers; “Solwata,” a documentary about climate refugees, voiced by Ruffalo; “Outrenoir,” a tribute to French artist Pierre Soulages, voiced by Huppert; “Anokhya: The Origin,” produced by Rahman, and starring Indian actor Milind Soman; and “Bowie: Unseen Unheard,” an immersive audiovisual work created from rare and never seen photos of David Bowie shot by his official photographer Denis O’Regan on the 10th anniversary of his death, featuring cutting-edge spatial sound technology.
Among the stars of the VR scene with new work in Venice are Celine Daemen and Nonny de la Peña. “Nothing to See Here” is directed by Daemen, 2023 Venice Immersive Grand Prize winner. “Out of the Ashes,” which is about the Los Angeles fires, is by De la Peña and Rory Mitchell.
Among the projects that deal with pressing social issues are “Raj’in” (We Shall Return), an immersive documentary capturing the ongoing situation of Palestinians in the West Bank; “Spomyny,” by Sophia Bulgakova, an immersive installation woven from intimate testimonies, conversations and found-footage chronicling civilian life during the four-year full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine; and “36,000 Ways,” by artist and former war photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa, a visceral immersive installation constructed from shrapnel collected from the frontline in Ukraine.
The Venice Film Festival runs Sept. 2-12.
English (US) ·