FIVARS 2017
Title: City of Ghosts
Director: Olivier Asselin
Producer:
Country: Canada | RT: 45m
Production Company: CieAR
City of Ghosts is an interactive, 360-degree mobile augmented reality film experience that allows users ̶equipped with a smart phone, tablet or AR glasses, to interact freely in real space with life-size 3D virtual characters ̶all within an elaborate scenario and even across several locations. City of Ghosts invites visitors to make a journey through time to relive a story of love, death, ghosts and technology ̶all in glorious augmented 3D animation mixed with real places.
Title: 360° Gladiators in the Colosseum
Director: Jörg Courtial
Producer: Maria Courtial
Country: Germany | RT: 9m28s
Production Company: Faber Courtial GbR
Rome: 80 AD. You are standing in the arena of the extravagantly decorated Colosseum surrounded by 50,000 cheering spectators.
You witness a bitter fight between two gladiators directly in front of you which is a fight to the death. Besides the beautiful production quality in stereoscopic 3D VR, Look out for the interesting social twist in the end!
Title: Harmony
Director: Jason Ungerman
Producer: Jason Ungerman
Country: Canada
A “flow” of unique and universal concepts are presented as a continuous sequence of events, unfolding before the viewer. An inspired music track provides the beat and backdrop to the journey. The piece was developed as a fun personal project, with focus placed on creating a passive yet engaging mobile VR experience.
Title: Manimal Sanctuary
Director: Jim Munroe
Producer: Sean Lerner
Country: Canada
Production Company: Postopian Games
Manimal Sanctuary is a lurking simulator. Set on the Toronto Islands after the rest of the world is devoured by gibbering monstrosities, you eavesdrop on the survivors and their everyday dramas involving things like bad potato crops and graffiti tags. And if those mundane emotions aren’t filling enough, you can always uncover some devastating secrets…
Title: Priya’s Mirror
Director: Dan Goldman and Ram Devineni
Producer: Ram Devineni, Dan Goldman, Shubhra Prakash, Paromita Vohra, Lina Srivastava
Country: India and USA
Production Company: Rattapallax
Distributor: The World Bank’s WeVolve Initiative
Launched in 2014, Priya’s Shakti was a first-of-its-kind fusion of augmented reality, comic books, and social engagement. The story of Priya, a rape survivor and modern-day superhero, shattered taboos that exist in India on the subject of violence against women. The second volume of this ongoing series, Priya’s Mirror, sees the heroine joining forces with acid attack survivors to take on the demon king Ahankar. As with its predecessor, Priya’s Mirror makes use of augmented reality to bring the 2D world of the comic to vivid life and unlock a number of interactive story elements.
Title: My Brother’s Keeper
Director: Connor Hair and Alex Meader
Producer: Brian Seth Hurst
Executive Producer: Don R. Wilcox
Country: USA | RT:
Production Company: StoryTech® Immersive, Perception2, PBS Digital Studios
Distribution: HTC Vive, Samsung Gear Video, Oculus Videos, Google Daydream, Littlstar, Jaunt, WEVR, Zeality, Facebook, YouTube
“My Brother’s Keeper” is a Civil War inspired narrative that pushes the boundaries of immersive storytelling while remaining anchored in historical fact. It is the story of two estranged brothers who, fighting on opposing sides, unknowingly reunite one last time on the battlefield at Antietam. As we walk into battle with Ethan 19 and Jackson 16, we also take a journey through their brief lives to understand what has led them to this one life-altering moment that is surrounded by carnage and the brutality of war. “My Brother’s Keeper” was inspired by the PBS primetime drama series “Mercy Street”
Title: Song of the Sea VR
Director: Jericca Cleland
Producer: Gerry Shirren
Country: Ireland | RT: 10m
Production Company: Cartoon Saloon, Vision 3, Norlum
Song of the Sea VR allows the user to step inside the lush world of mythic Ireland, experienced through the 2d style of the traditional artists of Cartoon Saloon. Continue the adventure in the storyteller’s cavern and unlock the secret world of the Selkies under the sea.
Title: Songs of the Vine
Director: Maira Clancy and Blake Montgomery
Producer: Maira Clancy and Blake Montgomery
Country: USA, Peru | RT: 15m27s
Production Company: Virtualside Studios
Shot over the span of two months in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, Songs of the Vine is a virtual reality documentary focusing on the healing modalities, cosmovision, and culture of the Shipibo, an indigenous group well-known for its rich tradition of plant spirit shamanism, including a mastery of the visionary ayahuasca brew. By immersing the viewer in the depths of the Amazon jungle, and exposing them to the medicine songs and perspectives of Shipibo healers, ‘Songs of the Vine’ illustrates an ancient but increasingly relevant dynamic between humans and nature.
Title: SANCTUARY
Director: Shivani Mulekar
Producer: Shivani Mulekar & Vinit Rajan
Country: Canada | RT: 7m33s
Production Company:
For over two years, the Juhasz family lived in sanctuary in a 10 x 13 foot room in a suburban Vancouver church, while facing deportation from Canada. This immersive film lets you experience the reality of Marianna, Patrik and Tamas’ life in a contained space as they wait for the government to decide their future.
Title: The Cooties
Director: Josh Gladstone, Daniel Kaminsky
Producer: Christopher Smith
Country: USA | RT: 3m
Production Company: Pseudoscience Pictures
Experience the world’s first VR music video that reacts to you! ‘VR’ is a new song by Los Angeles comedy trio and UCB regulars The Cooties. Enjoy the high-resolution 3D 360 video of Google’s Jump camera, and control the content with interactivity that always keeps things new. The more you look around, the more there is to see!
Title: The Golden Note
Director: Chris Forde / Cedrik Portron
Producer: Chris Forde / Cedrik Portron
Country: Canada, France | RT: 36m
Production Company: ccvar
The Golden note is an immersive Virtual Reality experience, halfway between a film and a game; a stylistic immersive version of an FMV. Follow the quest of Frenchman Jerome as he travels to Toronto in search of his father’s secret. Discover places, meet people and gather notes through the episodes to unlock unique scenes and a special ending!
Title: Asteroids!
Director: Eric Darnell
Country: | RT:
Production Company: Baobab Studios
From the director of Madagascar comes ASTEROIDS!, the highly-anticipated follow-up to the award-winning VR animation INVASION! Mac and Cheez are back with their robot sidekick Peas, this time on a dangerous, deep space mission. Disaster strikes as they are attacked by teeth-gnashing space bugs careening asteroids.
Title: Hoodoo
Director: Catherine Salkeld
Producer: Tom Box
Country: United Kingdom | RT: 6m30s (times may vary)
Production Company: Blue Zoo Productions LTD
Claw is a curious cat, whose packed his bag and adventured up to the top of an ancient Hoodoo. Where there only seems to be an old temple and the promise of a mystical relic. Things aren’t as they seem however and the task quickly falls to the participant and the ever present Tour guide to help save both Claw and the locals from certain demise!
Title: Halcyon
Country: US & Canada | RT: 50m55s
Production Company: Secret Location
Distribution: Halcyonvr.com (International, including US & Canada)
Oculus Store (International, including US & Canada)
Syfy International (International, excluding US & Canada)
Showcase.ca (Canada)
Halcyon in an original concept created by Secret Location and designed in a unique hybrid format: 10 short-form episodes, interspliced with 5 interactive VR episodes that take you deeper into the story. The 15-part series opens with a murder that happens in VR and invites viewers into the crime scene to help solve the case.Set in the year 2040, the series centers on Blake Creighton, the CEO of the world’s leading virtual reality company: Halcyon.
The company has bypassed headset devices and allows users to access virtual space through the use of neurological implants that manipulate the senses. When Creighton is found dead, Detective Jules Dover and her partner, Asha, must consider if this could be the world’s first virtual crime.
Title: Dreamtime 4K 3D
Director: Jonathan Sims
Producer: Jonathan Sims
Country: France | RT: 4m25s
DREAMTIME was a selection at FIVARS International, VRTO, Non Plussed Fest 2016 and covered by CNET and UploadVR. Now it returns to make it world premiere in glorious 4K resolution Stereoscopic 3D!
Title: Meta-Dimensional
Director: Michaella Vu
Producer: Braedan Herrera, Jenny Marrero, Philip Plough
Country: USA | RT: 6m31s
Production Company: Vunous
This meta-story structure spans into a 360 video that leads into the immersive web where one can explore the virtually built sets in 6 degrees of freedom or in any browser. This narrative takes the experiencer on a journey from flat two dimensional space to three dimensional space by combining a symphony of video footage (shot live and in the web), and virtual three dimensional assets (built in the web and taken from live sets).
Title: In His Presence
Director: Brenda Colonna
Producer: Philip Plough
Country: USA | RT: 15m
Production Company: Persistence Productions, VR Playhouse
IN HIS PRESENCE is a prayer and meditation experience focused around getting into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ will speak to you through both scriptures and parables revealing instructive wisdom on living a virtuous life. While exploring the world a user is taken on a journey of ascension experiencing Biblical references in a variety of settings. Ultimately IN HIS PRESENCE is a tool allowing spiritual seekers to carve out time and mental space for a practice that can bring you closer to God and more in tune with the beauty of life.
Title: Miyubi
Director: Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël
Producer: Stéphane Rituit, Ryan Horrigan, Chris Bruss, Christian Heuer, Mathieu Dumont, Sean Dacanay
Country: Canada | RT: 40m
Production Company: Felix & Paul Studios
MIYUBI is a 40-minute virtual reality scripted comedy about a Japanese toy robot – inhabited by you, the viewer – gifted to a young boy on his birthday in 1982 suburban America. Over the course of a year, as the boy’s family begins to fracture, you experience love and your inevitable obsolescence through an intimate, hilarious and endearing interactive story. A virtual reality experience by Felix & Paul Studios, in collaboration with Funny or Die, starring Jeff Goldblum, P.J Byrne, Emily Bergl, Owen Vaccaro, Richard Riehl, Ted Sutherland and Tatum Kensington Bailey.
Title: Dolphin Man
Director: Benoît Lichté
Producer: Cédric Bonin
Production Manager: Charlotte Ducos
Country: France | RT: 4m each
Production Company: Seppia, ARTE G.E.I.E., Wowow
Distribution: mk2 films
DOLPHIN MAN 360 immerses the viewer – literally – with three 360° videos/VR experiences, into three defining aspects of free diving in the footsteps of Jacques Mayol and what it might have to teach all of us.
Search: Fabrice Schnöller is a scientist fascinated by marine mammals. He studies the behavioural acoustics of dolphins, whales, and sperm whales in the seas off the island of La Réunion, where he is based. He has developed new technologies, such as 3D acoustic cameras, etho-acoustic analysis software, and high-definition 3D acoustic recording devices. His goal is to connect clicks with behaviour, in order to understand how cetaceans communicate. This is one part of a trilogy.
Title: Pacha’s Pyjamas
Director: Allah El Henson
Producer: Dave Room
Country: USA
Production Company: BALANCE Edutainment
The Pacha Alive augmented reality app brings the Pacha’s ZBook to life with 3D animations featuring celebrities like Mos Def, Cheech Marin, and Talib Kweli. After an asthma attack, Pacha’s mother gives her a pair of magical pajamas. When Pacha goes to sleep, the plants and animals on her pajamas become her guides on a dream adventure.
Title: Rose Colored
Director: Adam Cosco
Producer: Elizabeth Koshy, Vincent Edwards
Country: USA | RT: 18
Production Company: Invar Studios
Victoria’s personal A.I., Klive, is only doing what his programming considers will benefit his user. It’s his job to make sure she’s happy, no matter what. Deep down, Victoria knows something is amiss. Everything about her perfect boyfriend, to her perfect face, everything is just a bit too….PERFECT. When she begins to pull on the stray thread of doubt hanging from the hem of her life, the whole of her existence begins to unravel as well.
Title: Alteration
Director: Jerome Blanquet
Producer:
Country: France | RT: 17m
Production Company: Okio-Studio – Arte – Saint-George – Metronomic
Alexandro volunteers for a dream experiment. He is not aware that the scientists will inject him with Elsa, an Artificial Intelligence which will digitize and take over his subconscious to help her turn into a human being
Title: Floresta Encantada
Director: Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga aka VJ Suave
Producer: VJ Suave
Country: Brazil | RT: 10m
Production Company:
Director’s statement: “In this immersive, interactive experience we invite you to see the invisible entering in the magic forest territory through the eyes of Virtual Reality. Combining the latest generation technologies with the knowledge of indigenous people, VJ Suave lead us into a world which will respond to our gestures and movements.
The interactive installation proposed by the duo doesn’t present obstacles to overcome, but there is a course through which relationships can be established with the characters and objects. It is necessary to be in harmony with the sound of the environment, with the music from the instruments, with the flora diversity and also to realize the beauty of the animals. It demands attention, sensibility and immersion from the participants.
Taking the way we see things to a whole new level, it presupposes another kind of perspective: the one which sees, from the invisible, having the mind in symbiosis with all the organs of the body.”
Title: The Dream Collector
Director: Mi Li
Producer: Lei Zhengmeng
Country: China | RT: 12m
Production Company: Pinta Studios
An old man and his playful dog live together in a garbage dump, where they spend their days sorting through the trash left behind by others. The objects–-a broken guitar, a torn baseball glove, a deflated soccer ball––are the remnants of people’s abandoned dreams. Determined to bring these dreams back to life, the man tinkers away, carefully mending each piece of “garbage” until he can re-gift it to someone who will cherish it.
Title: Manifest 99
Director: Bohdon Sayre, Adam Volker
Producer: Sulivan Parker
Country: USA | RT: 20m
Production Company: Flight School Studio
MANIFEST 99 is an ominous and eerie story about finding redemption in the afterlife. Set on a mysterious train inhabited by a murder of crows, you assist four travel companions on a journey to their final destination. This virtual reality experience is played without a controller: you gaze into the eyes of crows to move to their perch, viewing the world from their scale and perspective. Look into the eyes of your travel companions and uncover the reason why they – and you – are on this train traveling into the great beyond.
Title: KISS ME
Director: Akira Furuta, Ryutaro Nakamura
Producer: Ryutaro Nakamura
Country: Japan | RT: 5m43s
Production Company: CNS Inc.
This “new-style” music video from Japanese rap/pop group P.O.P. was “created with the latest VR & 3D sound technology.” Captured 3D live-action images combined with 3D animation and ”3D Sound” combining stereophonic and binaural recording comes together for a joyful, catchy music experience guaranteed to make you smile.
Title: Guardian of the Guge Kingdom
Director: Huang Bin
Producer: Frank Lee & Zhang Wei
Country: China | RT: 7m12s
Production Company: Beijing Autel Creative Culture Media Co., Ltd.
Tibet is a land filled with rich history and culture. Guge Kingdom Relics, which is located in western Tibet, is a part of Tibet’s history that is not known to most. Once a prosperous kingdom, Guge thrived for seven hundred years before its people mysteriously vanished, leaving a city full of temples, murals and Buddha statues behind to centuries of weathering under the stars. In this immersive VR experience, listen to Pasang Tsering’s story and follow his steps as he walks through this ancient city to study and protect its beauty, as he have done day after day for the past five years.
Title: Submerged
Director: Nishtha Jain
Producer: Zain Memon
Country: India | RT: 8m10s
Production Company: Memesys Culture Lab
In July 2016, in the wake of rising water levels, panicking villagers cut away a portion of a mud dam, leading to a torrential burst of water that inundated hundreds of villages downstream. With houses and crops destroyed, the film moves through the submerged landscape of the people affected by the most devastating flood in Bihar since 2008.
Title: EXTRAVAGANZA
Director: Ethan Shaftel
Producer: Ethan Shaftel & Frank Stringini
Country: USA | RT: 5m45s
Production Company: easyAction
A bitingly funny satire mixing animation and live-action footage. You become a puppet trapped in an offensive show, performing for a clueless executive (Paul Scheer) and confronted with his prejudices. Can technology change society for the better, or does it magnify our worst traits in new ways? Also starring John Gemberling.
Title: UTURN
Director: Nathalie Mathe, Ryan Lynch
Producer: Nathalie Mathe
Country: France | RT: 10m
Production Company: NativeVR
UTURN is an immersive live-action VR comedy where viewers get to experience both sides of the gender divide in tech. Viewers are placed in the middle of two intertwined stories, one told from a female POV, and the other one from a male POV. Viewers can choose which side of the story to follow at any time, and will only hear the scene they look at through a unique spatial sound design. Whatever they miss changes their perspective on the overall story.
Title: Iorana Rapa Nui
Director: Damián Turkieh
Producer: Damián Turkieh
Country: Argentina | RT: 4m
Production Company: Realidad 360º Argentina
Welcome to Easter Island, “Iorana Rapa Nui” is a sensory experience to get to know the people of the most remote place of the planet and to immerse yourself in their ancestral culture. This documentary was recorded during the cultural meeting “Tapati 2017”. It fuses music, dance, indigenous extreme sports such as Haka Pei, Polynesian canoeing and an underwater tour through the blue waters of the island where you can appreciate its biodiversity and the imposing submerged Moai. This is the first chapter of a series of VR 360º documentaries on Rapa Nui with 3D spatial audio, produced and directed by Damián Turkieh with the support of Cristian Rapu Edmunds and Rapa Nui community, to preserve and spread their culture.
Title: A Little Love
Director: Alton Glass
Producer: Alton Glass & Amanda Shelby
Country: USA | RT: 8m
Production Company: Glassrock Studios
Kelsey is a successful hardworking mother that’s back in the workforce and making major strides in her career. Unfortunately, her 8 year old daughter Blake and her loving husband Sydney are starting to experience her increasing absence.
As Blake’s 8th birthday party approaches, Kelsey is given the simple task of just bringing the birthday cake on time. Seemingly easy, Kelsey barely makes it on time which causes her daughter to make an unusual birthday wish they will never forget.
Title: Ashes to Ashes
Director: Ingejan Ligthart Schenk, Jamille van Wijngaarden, Steye Hallema
Producer: Bruno Felix, Femke Wolting
Country: Netherlands | RT: 11m
Production Company: Submarine Channel
co-production: AVROTROS
in association with: WeMakeVR, JauntVR
Filmed from the perspective of the urn containing the ashes, viewers encounter the colorful family members, who each seem to live in a reality of their own creation. Ashes to Ashes is an experience filmed in one long shot, designed to challenge the viewer to distinguish what is real from what is not.
Title: Rain or Shine
Director: Felix Massie
Producer: Mariano Melman Carrera
Country: United Kingdom | RT: 5m
Production Company: Nexus Studios
The sun is shining, the birds are singing, there’s a spring in everybody’s step. It’s a perfect day until Ella steps outside. Everywhere she goes it rains – is she going to ruin everyone’s day? Rain or Shine is Nexus’ interactive 360° mobile VR short film made for Google Spotlight Stories. Directed by Felix Massie, Rain or Shine follows Ella, a charismatic young girl who loves being outside in the sunshine, but whenever she puts her sunglasses on all loveliness disappears – her very own raincloud appears above her head and showers her with unwanted rain. The story warmly illustrates Ella’s frustration in wanting to enjoy her day in the sunshine, and follows her amusing but futile attempts to dodge the rain.
Title: An Obituary
Director: Jean Yoon
Producer: Jean Yoon, Yang kuk-seok, Jang lien, Kim jin-hee
Country: South Korea | RT: 12m56s
Production Company: DanDanHan Pictures, Sol Studio
Sitting alone in the same room as his deceased friend’s coffin, Ki-Un suddenly asks himself why his friend, Sang-Woo, died. As he retrieves a recent e-mail from Sang-Woo, he finds the following message: “Even if you hear that I have died, do not come here!” He then hurriedly flees, but Sang-Woo’s mother, who has very dark secrets, chases after Ki-Un through the woods, heavy with a thick fog as he races to his car.
Title: Under Neon Lights
Director: Zach Richter and Jono Brandel
Producer: Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin
Country: USA | RT: 5m
Production Company: Within
Distribution: Within
Title: Kinoscope
Director: Philippe Collin & Clément Léotard
Producer: Arnaud Colinart
Country: France | RT: 9m
Production Company: Ex Nihilo, Novelab, Google Cultural Insitut
Distributor: MK2
Title: Out of the Blue
Director: Sophie Ansel
Producer: Sophie Ansel, Amy Seidenwurm, Paula Cueno, Joanne Sprague, Director Of Photography: Christophe Bailhache
Collaborators: Seaview 360, Mission Blue, The Ocean Agency, Visit Baja Sur, Spinifex, Terrasat, Panedia | 9m57s
A child in Mexico inherits an unexpected future after his family of fishermen, facing ever shrinking catches, make a bold decision to change their fate. Their choice has a profound impact on both their environment and the education of the child. This VR experience dives into the story of a mother’s love and the legacy she leaves to her son.
Principal cast: Judith Castro Lucero & Yerick Vallesillo Castro
Stereographer: Marcello Altieri
Associate Producer: Shelly McGee, Jerónimo Pérez , Rodolfo Rodriguez
Illustrator: Andrey Shushkov
Animation Producer: Jerome Debaecque
Animation creative producer: Roger Timmerman
Editor: Nick Varley
Sound Designer: Otavio
Post Production: Reelfx
Partners: Vrforgood by Oculus, Pelagic Life, Reelfx
Country: France, USA, Mexico, Australia, Russia , Hong Kong | RT: 5m