Kaleidoscope, the virtual reality and immersive film festival, is on the road again in 2016 – this time hitting 10 cities in 9 countries around the world to show case 30 VR works which demonstrate the power of the medium’s storytelling potential.
Kaleidoscope is to head off around the world, bringing with it a curated collection of over 30 of the best virtual reality experiences out there. The tour kicks off in Paris, France on March 1st and concludes in Melbourne, Australia 6 weeks later.
Founded last year René Pinnell and former Industrial Light & Magic technical director Michael Breymann, Kaleidoscope says their mission is to “empower independent artists by promoting their work, producing original content, fostering new talent and raising the visibility of virtual reality as the new frontier of film and entertainment.”
Kaleidoscope World Tour Tickets
The tour’s line-up will include “innovative and thought provoking experiences” including the World Premieres of Academy Award-winning Phil Tippett’s Mad God, produced by Wevr, Pierre Friquet’s brave love story Jet Lag, and Balthazar Auxietre’s visually stunning
LA PÉRI: A Prelude, as well as the international premieres of Tyler Hurd’s psychedelic dance party Old Friend, produced by Wevr, a retrospective of Daniël Ernst’s VR dioramas including the latest instalment Marchland and the eye opening Notes on Blindness created by Arnaud Colinart, Amaury La Burthe, Peter Middleton, and James Spinney.
In addition the festival will also feature Arjan van Meerten’s Surge, which received the Audience Choice Award at last year’s Kaleidoscope Festival, and special screenings of Penrose Studio’s ROSE & I, Wevr Studio’s theBlu: Encounter, and a sneak peek of Baobab Studio’s upcoming Invasion!, as well as a featured demonstration of Google’s Tilt Brush, a breathtaking experience that allows you to paint in 3D space.
This year’s world tour will be equipped with the latest VR hardware from Oculus, Samsung and Valve/HTC and all experiences are to use the newly announced WEVR Transport, a content portal built for virtual reality experiences.
“We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm around the inaugural Kaleidoscope VR Film Festival and can’t wait to bring it to a global audience in 2016,” said Kaleidoscope co-founder René Pinnell. “The success of last year’s festival uncovered a huge demand for virtual reality films and artists around the world. We are thrilled to showcase the latest VR experiences and technologies to 10 international hubs, and to engage with local pioneers in each city to highlight their ground breaking work. Virtual reality is a global movement, and this is an exciting next step for Kaleidoscope. We are thankful to all of our sponsors and partners and look forward to featuring the talents of our incredible artists.”
The list of sponsors and collaborators is extensive, and an interesting counterpoint to last year’s events. As such, the festival will also feature Nokia, who are bringing along their OZO VR camera and Unity, one of the most popular engines out there for indie developers building VR projects.
Kaleidoscope World Tour 2016 Dates
- Paris, France – Tuesday, March 1st (La Gaîté lyrique)
- Tel Aviv, Israel – Saturday, March 5th (Amiad Center)
- London, England – Tuesday, March 8th (Studio Spaces E1)
- Stockholm, Sweden – Saturday, March 12th (The Brewery Conference Center)
- Cologne, Germany – Friday, March 18 (Flora Köln, Am Botanischen Garten 1a)
- Berlin, Germany – Tuesday, March 22nd (Jewish Museum of Berlin)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands – Friday, March 25th (The EYE Film Museum)
- Pangyo, South Korea – Thursday, March 31st (Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (CCEI))
- Tokyo, Japan – Wednesday, April 6th (Terratoria)
- Melbourne, Australia – Wednesday, April 12th (Melbourne Meat Market)
