Baobab Studios, the VR film studio behind the likes of Bonfire and Crow: The Legend, has announced its newest film titled BABA YAGA, which the studio describes as a “contemporary portrayal of the Eastern European legend” of the same name.
Baobab Studios has been creating made-for-VR short films since 2015. The studio’s 2018 film, Crow: The Legend, was released on Oculus Rift, Go, and Gear VR, and earned Baobab two Daytime Emmy awards.
The studio is gearing up to reveal its next film, Baba Yaga which sounds like it will take the studio’s artful, Pixar-esque style in an entirely new direction.
“Baba Yaga is […] inspired by illustrative 2D pop-up animation, hand-drawn and stop-motion styles, creating a modern visual language for VR inspired by classic animation,” the studio says.
Further, the studio is teasing that the film will have a branching narrative which will be impacted by the choices of the viewer.
“Sometimes a force for evil, sometimes a force for good, the enigmatic witch Baba Yaga uses her powers to protect the forest from the villagers’ encroachment. When your mother, the village chief, falls deathly ill it is up to you and your sister Magda to do the unthinkable—enter the forest, uncover its hidden mysteries and get the cure from Baba Yaga.”
Directed by Baobab’s Eric Darnell and co-directed by Mathias Chelebourg, Baba Yaga will be first revealed at the 2020 Annecy International Animation Festival which is being held virtually from June 15th to June 30th. There the studio will offer the first look at the film during a presentation on June 15th, which will be available to virtual festival goers throughout the event.
So far a release date for Baba Yaga hasn’t been announced, but you can find Baobab’s four other films here for free.