Visiting 10 cities, showcasing 20 curated, innovative and immersive experiences from around the world, the Kaleidoscope VR Film festival heads out on a road show designed to celebrate leading innovators in cinematic VR content and to bring it to a wider audience.
With 360-degree immersive media becoming a hot topic amongst the big players in Hollywood and virtual reality opening up new avenues for artists to explore, we’ve seen some pretty amazing stuff emerge in the last few years.
From linear 360 film-making, to rendered cinematic VR experiences to immersive semi-interactive dioramas created especially for the platform, the rise of virtual reality has brought with it huge innovation. The Kaleidoscope VR Film festival aims to highlight some of the best examples in this new wave of entertainment and the talent behind the projects.
Kaleidoscope VR Film Festival Tickets
Kaleidoscope was founded in May 2015 by entrepreneur René Pinnell and former Industrial Light & Magic technical director Michael Breymann, the company says its mission is to “…empower independent VR artists by promoting their work, producing original content, fostering new talent and raising the visibility of VR as the new frontier of film and entertainment” – a lofty goal indeed. The VR Film festival is the company’s first step along that road, almost literally.
Presented by Vrideo, described as “the world’s most fully built out immersive video platform”, each festival event will involve talks and demos from top VR filmmakers and industry members. Audiences will also have the opportunity to experience the full line-up of films on Gear VR equipment supplied by Samsung, as well as Oculus VR headsets.
The festival will visit 10 US cities between August 22nd and October the 14th: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Montreal, Toronto, New York City & Austin. You can catch a detailed set of dates on our VR event calendar page for Kaleidoscope.
The currently line up of experiences is detailed below, although the list may change with new additions expected as the festival progresses.
Kaleidoscope VR Film Festival Line Up
DIR. MICHAEL CATALANO
US | 11 Mins | Pre-Rendered 180 Animation
Bright Shadows is an 11 minute animation of dynamic, colorful abstractions choreographed to instrumental music.
DIR. TYLER HURD
US | 2:07 Mins | Real-Time Animation
Widely credited as the first animated cartoon for virtual reality, BUTTS is a story about anxiety, depression, and lots and lots of jiggling posteriors.
PRODUCED BY JOSEPH CHEN
International | 4:40 Mins | Real-Time Animation
The story of the long lost Great Spirits known as the COLOSSE explores themes of fear power, and respect.
DIR. HAYOUN KWON
SOUTH KOREA | 20 Mins | Real-Time Experience
Journey to the Korean Demilitarized Zone in this revealing virtual reality documentary.
DIR. DANIËL ERNST
Netherlands | 3 Mins | Real-Time Experience
DER GROSSE GOTTLIEB, the greatest acrobat of his generation, has built a tower of chairs high enough to knock on heaven’s door and visit the stars!
DIR. AARON BRADBURY
UK | 5:20 Mins | Pre-Rendered 360 Animation
More than 100000 chemical reactions happen in your brain every second. So what about the moment you saw the girl of your dreams, and she saw you?
DIR. TOMÁŠ MARIANČÍK
Czech Republic | 10 Mins | Real-Time Exeperience
A surreal experience that demonstrates VR ability to create worlds that feel real but behave unlike anything you we know.
DIR. ARJAN VAN MEERTEN
Netherlands | 3:34 Mins | Real-Time Animation
An abstract meditation on the evolutionary process and its relentless march towards complexity.
DIR. MIKE TUCKER
US | 3 Min | Real-Time Animation
Tana Pura is an audio-visual experience set to a musical composition by Jonny Greenwood.
DIR. JESSICA KANTOR
US | 1:30 Mins | Live-Action 360 Video
A man visits a female archer, and chaos ensues.
DIR. AVRAM DODSON
US | 2 Mins | Real-Time Animation
A rock-man, desperate for the company of his own kind, abandons his lizard companion to follow a living mountain into the desert.
DIR. DAVID DARG
US | 4 Mins | Live-Action 360 Video
Narrated by Susan Sarandon, THE NEPAL QUAKE PROJECT immerses the viewer in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake.
DIR. MAC CAULEY
US | 3 Mins | Real-Time Experience
The Night Cafe is an immersive VR environment that allows you to explore the world of Vincent van Gogh first hand.
DIR. LEE BLEDSOE
US | 2:30 Mins | Live-Action 360 Video
What happens to a balloon when it floats away, what does it see, and where does it go?
DIR. VINCENT MORISSET
CANADA | 6 Mins | 360 Interactive Video
Way to Go is an interactive experience, a restless panorama, a mixture of hand-made animation, 360˚ video capture, music and dreaming and code.
DIR. CHRISTIAN STEPHENS
US | 2:45 Mins | Live-Action 360 Video
A moving documentary that transports you to the war-torn city of Aleppo, Syria.
DIR. DARREN EMERSON
UK | 13 Mins | Live-Action 360 Video
Combining personal testimony, reconstruction, and abstract imagery journey into the heart of one survivor’s extraordinary story.
