This year’s BJIFF held the first screening of VR films. As the initiator of the “Virtual Reality (VR)” Out-of-Competition Section, Li Xun said that the idea of setting up the section originated from the Venice Film Festival of last year.
In the Venice Film Festival in 2017, the VR General Competition Section was established for the first time, which standardized the category of VR films (“VR film”, “stereo interactive VR” and “VR device”). After learning, panorama of the “Virtual Reality (VR)” Section of the BJIFF will also be organized on these three categories.
As early as in 2012, panorama of VR films was held in the Sundance Film Festival, and that of many VR films were also held in the Berlin Film Festival. In November last year, the Hangzhou Parallel Image Week set up a small VR film exhibition, showing seven VR film works, which laid a good foundation for the panorama of VR films in domestic film festivals.
The Nulan Cinema is located in a quadrangle courtyard in the west side of West Damochang Street, Dongcheng District of Beijing. This “Virtual Reality (VR)” Section of the Beijing International Film Festival this year is selected to be held in such a building with traditional cultural heritages to allow traditional Chinese cultures to integrate with advanced film technologies. It perfectly embodies the professional and innovative positioning of the Beijing International Film Festival and the inclusive spirit of a culturally strong country.
The opening ceremony was carried out in a relaxed and happy atmosphere all the way. According to Li Xun, this opening ceremony was an occasion for “friends old and new to sit together and chat”. At the opening ceremony, Curator Sun Xianghui mentioned her impressions of VR film. She had participated in the screening of VR films for a short time at the Berlin Film Festival. But the 10-minute experience left her a deep impression and she said “I do not want to leave”. Although the Deputy Director Gao Shan has not experienced it personally, he can not help experiencing it after just listening to the experience of participating in the Venice panorama described by Li Xun. The excellent VR films screened in the “Virtual Reality (VR)” Section in this year’s Beijing International Film Festival is very desirable for him.
The director and photographer of VR film The Sun Ladies Celine Trichardt was very excited about attending the Beijing International Film Festival. She is also very excited that The Sun Ladies has the opportunity to complete her China’s premiere at the BJIFF, which is of vital importance to herself and her team. Since the VR technology is not yet universally popular currently, the BJIFF and Mr. Li Xun have provided an opportunity and opened a window for The Sun Ladies, allowing more Chinese audiences to see her work. Celine introduced some of the background stories of the film and stated that the exchanges with the female soldiers in the film were the most thrilling experience in her life. At the same time, she also hoped to use VR technical power to make her audience “feel the sympathy” as she did.
On behalf of the VR content producer, Eric Donley, producer of Dinner Party, and director Sam Giszali also expressed great pleasure at the Beijing International Film Festival this year. Eric Donley is grateful to the Chinese government for its support for the festival’s panorama activities and the efforts of the film festival staff. So he and his team can have the opportunity of coming to China with their own works. He hopes that their works will have different significance for the audience. The director Sam Giszali expressed that the VR technology was stil a new medium form and there were many more fields for exploration. It was hoped that the guests continue to support explorations of VR.
Later on, Founder of Qingdao International Immersive Film Exhibition Lou Yanxin shared his working ideas in the field of VR. He said that: “The film festival is supporting the new producers and their works, which is very important encouragement and help for the independent filmmakers. The new media provide new and fair opportunities for each one. The new producers can stand on the world-class stage to show themselves as long as they work hard enough. I sincerely hope that China will have more film exhibitions in the future to provide a show opportunity for new filmmakers. ”
At the close of the opening ceremony, the film selector and curator of VR Section for the BJIFF Che Lin pointed out the theme of this year’s “Virtual Reality (VR)” Out-of-Competition Section - “Addressing”. All exhibition films rely on a strong sense of immersion to give the audience a variety of vivid experiences. The content of the film either traces the origin of life or explores the identity of different people in different stories. These are actually “addressing”. Such “addressing” should make the audience feel how the VR space is grown in the culture of Beijing, and how the new technologies such as VR are rejuvenating in Beijing, a city with ancient culture. VR is also exploring its own existence value as an art form. Later on, the attending guests watched the three VR films The Sun Ladies, Dinner Party and Magritte at the scene. After the screening, main creators of The Sun Ladies and Dinner Party shared their film reviews and exchanged creation experience. Eric Donley, producer of The Dinner Party, and the creative director Sam Giszali proposed that the media should serve the story rather than the opposite. The director and photographer of The Sun Ladies, Celine Trichardt, shared with the guests and the media the difficulties in the film production process. She thinks that VR films, whether photography or editing, are very different from traditional films, which makes it difficult to shoot VR films. The reaction of the audience during film watching made the director feel that the hardships during shooting are worthwhile.
The progress of science and technology has undoubtedly promoted the development of the modern film industry greatly. At the present time of maximizing the immersive feeling during film watching, the world’s filmmakers are making active explorations, breaking through themselves, and injecting new vigor into the film art with new forms.
The 8th Beijing International Film Festival’s “Virtual Reality (VR)” Section will be shown in the Nulan Cinema in Beijing from April 15 to April 21. At the same time, the audience will watch the 8 excellent global VR works of Wonderful You, The Sun Ladies, Dinner Party, Magritte, Greenland Melting, After Solitary, Dear Angelica and Chalkroom. Come to VR panorama and experience the immersive viewing experience.