VR SPOTLIGHT – STATE POWER

FIVARS 2019 Spotlight – “STATE POWER” by Jeff Stanzler


STATE POWER, is a speculative future experiment which submerges you under a new ‘rule of law’ America. The experience will put you in the centre of a prison camp cell and surround you with five political prisoners (all recently abducted just like you) and two guards; each with their secrets, agendas and fears. On the eve of their executions the Rebels forge a brazen and elaborate escape attempt. Suddenly a new prisoner is brought into the cell and no one can be sure if this person can be trusted or has been put there by the guards to inform on them. Ultimately a harrowing escape is attempted, and the story comes to an eye-opening conclusion.

The history of film is rife with epic stories of wrongfully imprisoned people struggling for their freedom. STATE POWER will aim to follow in the deep footsteps of great movies such as The Great Escape, The Shawshank Redemption, Escape from Alcatraz, Le Trou and many other great thrillers.

You can choose how you would like to view the experience. Either from a political perspective similar to your own or from the eyes of someone with totally opposing views. Whatever the case, it will spark and possibly transform opinions leaving a deep impact on your psyche.

“Deep down, many of us sense that we are rapidly approaching our last days of civilized normalcy.” says writer/director Jeff Stanzler. “A frank, intimate conversation with anyone you know, and there will be some quiet acknowledgement that a seismic upheaval is coming for good or (more likely) bad. I deeply believe that those in the arts must now find new and untried methods and mediums to help us ‘imagine the unimaginable’​ and get us beyond ‘quiet acknowledgements’ and into meaningful conversations with strangers, who may at first seem very different from us.”

By leveraging the power of VR for 360-degree range of view and putting you in a confined cell be prepared for a unique opportunity at Virtual Reality Storytelling, unlike anything we have seen before.

Don’t miss out on this unique mind-bending experience happening at FIVARS 2019 from September 13-15.

About the Creator

A filmmaker drawn to stories looted from the tumult of our times, Jeff Stanzler was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for SORRY, HATERS and has films that have played in the Sundance, Toronto, Venice and AFI film festivals.

He has directed an array of award-winning actors such as Robin Wright, Tim Roth, James Gandolfini, Sam Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Sandra Oh – as well as working with notable Producers: Lawrence Kasdan, Mark Waters, John Sloss and HBO. Recently, he has started to explore new mediums and is the process of completing a 12 episode VR film series, “STATE POWER.”