Red Sea International Film Festival Announces Virtual Reality Contest

The Red Sea International Film Festival has announced the program for its virtual reality competition, celebrating immersive art and entertainment.

The program will feature 10 virtual reality productions representing the best of international VR creativity from 2022, which will compete with each other for the Gold and Silver Yusr Awards. The Gold Yusr Award is worth $10,000.

Red Sea: Virtual Reality will also collaborate with the Ithra Creative Solutions program, the first immersive works development program in Saudi Arabia, to showcase four projects from this year’s cohort. These will include Anticipation of rain, Alqatt al-Asiri, Wamdah – a glimpse of the futureand history of science – Reflection on the Cosmos.

Speaking about the category, Kaleem Aftab, Director of International Programming, said, “The Red Sea International Film Festival is extremely proud to present this year’s virtual reality program. The selection of pieces represents the best immersive experiences from around the world, combining art with cutting-edge technology and building the future of storytelling.

Liz Rosenthal, Curator of Red Sea: Virtual Reality, added, “We have some truly phenomenal pieces in this year’s selection, including one of the first multiplayer mixed reality experiences. These artists test the limits of creative possibilities in a stimulating and inclusive way.

The 10 works in competition include (Hi)story of a painting: Light in the shadowsdirected by Gaëlle Mourre and Quentin Darras, winner of the Special Jury Prize at SXSW 2022. The animated, immersive and interactive experience aims to engage young audiences in the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, a baroque artist who found success against through thick and thin, becoming one of Europe’s most famous and sought-after painters of her time.

Directed by German Heller and winner of the Special Jury Prize, Venice Immersive, Venice International Film Festival, egg landscape is a mixed reality multiplayer game in which participants use controllers to protect their terrified little egg as it struggles to survive in various harsh environments.

See means ‘hands meet’ in Turkish and is produced by a Turkish-Dutch team and directed by Sjoerd van Acker. Using controllers, a VR headset and an original electronic soundtrack, he invites participants to dance using only their hands – but the experience leaves the dancer wondering, whose hands are they? really ?

Directed by Celine Daemen, Eurydice, an infinite descentis a virtual reality opera inspired by the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the audience travels on a solitary journey in an intermediate space, between matter and eternity, in which time fades and the laws of space become obsolete .

Interactive entertainment From the main square by Pedro Harres, who won the Grand Jury Prize for Venice Immersive at the Venice International Film Festival, takes the viewer on a journey through time and the rise and fall of civilizations – all from the point of view of a single main square in the city.

Emmy nominated Plant Kingdom With David Attenborough is an immersive documentary that uses state-of-the-art photographic technology to bring the viewer right to the heart of the battles and dramas raging in otherwise humble undergrowth.

Based on real facts, In the morning you wake up at the end of the world is an animated documentary that tells the story of an ordinary Saturday morning in 2018 when the entire population of Hawaii received a text message informing them of an impending ballistic missile attack and were ordered to stand shelter immediately.

In a female-centric retelling of a Brothers Grimm folk tale, directed by Julie Cavaliere, Nyssa tells the story of a fearless but naive young witch who goes in search of her toy broom. Along the way, she encounters a familiar spirit called Blue, but must save her village from Temencaag, the Creature of Darkness.

Directed by Ellen Utrecht, Banks of Loci is a fantasy world-building puzzle game that maximizes the full potential of virtual reality to immerse the participant in epic environments of mythical creatures to help them rebuild their magical worlds.

The Man Who Couldn’t Leave directed by Singing Chen won Best Immersive Experience, the top prize for Venice Immersive at the Venice International Film Festival.

The virtual reality program will be presented at the Ritz Carlton Hotel between 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. from December 2 to 8, 2022. The public will need to book tickets in advance to access it: for non-accredited customers, tickets will be sold at SAR 20 ($5.32) for a single title and SAR 100 ($26.60) for a full pass to see all ten projects.