3500+ Films - 2.5 million words – 1 million viewers! Founder and Curator Carmela selects some of our most entertaining, powerful and inspiring VR films at We Are Moving Stories. These include short and feature length documentary and drama about women’s stories, alt. reality, immersive VR, real-life stories - and alternatives.
Total length of this section: 24 films.
<WOMEN’S STORIES>
Code_Switch - After losing a loved one, Ruby Oliver enters a broken VR game for a last chance to see the dead – little does she know that this game treats all girls as a virus as she fights to get out. Length: 16 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer/Actor Sigin Ojulu:
“Code_Switch is meant to provide a speculative scenario based off true events that have already occurred. I think particularly for marginalized groups, it should stir up conversation as to where we fit into the hyper digitized world.”
Hekademia - In the near future, an isolated teenage girl attends a virtual reality high school. Length: 16 minutes. Writer/Director Gloria Mercer:
“Hekademia breaks new ground because it delves into social science fiction from the perspective of a teenage girl. Science fiction is so often from a male-dominated, heteronormative perspective, and this film moves beyond that into new territory. It also asks questions about the adolescent relationship to technology that have become increasingly relevant, especially after over a year spent relying on technology as our primary mode of communication.”
DISCONTINUED - A depressed millennial discovers that the world she knows is just a simulated version of reality that is being shut down. Suddenly, she's the only one who wants to stick around. Length: 92 minutes. Filmmakers Trevor Peckham, Michael Villucci, Ashley Hutchinson:
“TREVOR - I think this film is pretty dense, but also fun to watch. Hopefully it makes you laugh and think at the same time. I’m hoping that anyone will be able to relate to at least some aspect of it, but it is definitely focused on the millennial experience.”
Ava in the End - After tripping over her dog and dying, a young woman wakes up in a virtual purgatory and waits for her mind to be downloaded into a new body. Length: 10 minutes. Writer Addison Heimann and Director/Producer/Editor Ursula Ellis:
“AH: I’m terrified of dying. And I’m terrified of the world ending. And I’m terrified of artificial intelligence, to be honest.
UE: I’m afraid of those things, too, except I’m kind of down with the AI overlords (please remember I said this, future rulers of the known universe).”
The Redhead - When meeting a mysterious redhead in a seductive virtual reality game world, it soon becomes impossible for Aven to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Length: 10 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Natalie MacMahon:
“I made “The Redhead” because I wanted to tell a story where technology plays with somebody’s mind in such a way that it becomes hard to see the boundaries and to know what’s reality and what is just a game.”
The Widow - As she tastes the salt on her lips, a widow cannot but cry. But what better place to cool down tears, than a cold lover’s lap? Length: 17 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer/Actor/Editor Eva Depoorter:
“The Widow is a visual feast of raw emotions, too delicate to be revealed, too urgent to be hidden. While faint dialogues transform into perished sexuality, barren reality stifles irrefutable desires - a foolish reverie of what is not. From a grave that is yet to be dug, inaudible whispers emerge - her parched lips, ready to burst. As the widow surrenders to the blackened sea, you cannot but partake... your hands comfortably tied.”
Women at the front is about women´s involvement with the peace process in Colombia. It is based on seven interviews with seven extraordinary Colombian women: Patricia Guerrero, Luz Marina Bernal, Vera Grabe, Luz Marina Becerrra, Beatriz Montoya, Nelly Velandia and Mayerlis Ingrate. Length: 47 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Lula Gómez:
“Sick of a society that kills them, they decided to build an alternative reality from scratch, from the foundations up, from a perspective where violence is not the dictating rule over their lives and where the principle of the survival of the fittest no longer prevails.
They believe in peace because they cannot tolerate any more war; they believe in dialogue and in consensus and propose new structures of life. They repeat that the patriarchy, the established system, silences and annihilates them.”
<ALT. REALITY>
Swatted - Online players describe their struggles with "swatting", a life-threatening cyber-harassment phenomenon that looms over them whenever they play. Length: 21 minutes. Director Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis:
“In my films, I am interested in the boundaries between the real and the virtual. Today, this entanglement is such that these two realities can no longer really be separated. We’re in the middle of virtual reality.”
Trespasser - In the future, working is no longer necessary. A scientist faces depression and a virtual 'terrorist' that leads her to face her deepest fear. Length: 9 minutes. Director: Caio Cortonesi:
“The story takes place in a personal universe created by and for the main character. She is being tormented by very human dilemmas and insecurities, and found a safe haven from reality using technology. Maybe that’s a story that we all can relate to in different ways.”
A Safe Guide to Dying - The quest of a self-deprecating man exploring different suicide methods inside a lifelike videogame simulation. Length: 12 minutes. Director Dimitris Tsilifonis:
“From the start, our aim was to create a 360 experience that was tied together with a strong narrative that revolved around the meta element of a virtual world inside a virtual world. We wanted to create a film that would challenge our personal limits, but which would also mark new territory in VR experiences.”
Alternate - After a long day of reality, Philip wants to surf through some alternatives. Length: 3 minutes. Writer/Director Conor Holt:
“If you could live your entire life within a virtual reality of your own making, would you do it?”
Hide and Seek - A rock musician turned stay-at-home dad makes an impulsive wish during a chance encounter with a former band mate, transporting him into an alternative reality. Length: 10 minutes. Writer/Director Shoshana Rosenbaum:
“You will enjoy this film if you have ever wondered about the path not taken, or if you’ve ever let your mind wander down the “what if” road into an alternate version of your life.”
<IMMERSIVE VR>
Carriberrie - An immersive VR journey across Australia celebrating the depth and diversity of Indigenous dance and song from the traditional to the contemporary. “We are the gatekeepers of the traditional stories and we blend the ancient with the contemporary.” – Stephan Page, Bangarra artistic director. 156 DANCERS, 36 PERFORMANCES, 9 CULTURAL GROUPS. 14 minutes. Director Dominic Allen:
“VR tricks the brain into thinking “you’re there”. Many traditional practices are conducted on country and in circles - VR puts you face to face with the performers, in the circle with them.”
Galup VR Experience - Aboriginal Elder Doolann-Leisha Eatts shares a buried history hidden for nearly 200 years. Length: 9 minutes. Writers/Directors Ian Wilkes and Poppy van Oorde-Grainger:
“At its heart, we wanted to talk about the importance of truth-telling and bringing people together for connection and healing.”
310 - Made in collaboration with the teenage inmates of Laval Child and Youth Protection Centre, 310 is a virtual reality work that immerses you in the life of a temporary home that inspires all kinds of soul-searching. Length: 23 minutes. Co-director and Co-writer Emily Laliberté:
“The purpose of our projects is to create safe spaces for teenagers under youth protection to express themselves on sociopolitical issues they are concerned with.”
Beyond the Milky Way - Experience the greatest scientific endeavor in history. Length: 26 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Briege Whitehead:
“This global scientific effort to design, build and operate the world’s largest radio telescope is 70 years in the making, and now we’re at the historic moment of construction finally being realised. We could very likely be capturing the final years of history when we thought we were alone in the Universe – how incredible is that to witness and document through the immersive world of 360 VR.”
The Orchid and the Bee (VR) - Nature is wondrous and clever. As Darwin taught us, those who improvise most effectively prevail. There are species who under threat revert to earlier forms, others who cultivate parasitic relationships with neighbouring beings, while the most inventive ones transform their bodies to mimic and seduce unsuspecting companions. The Orchid and the Bee is an expressionistic VR ode to life’s struggle for existence, explored through a chain of genetic love affairs. Length: 5 minutes. Interview with Director/Animator Frances Adair McKenzie:
“With this project I wanted to depict environmental concerns through an optimistic lens, emphasizing relationships, collaboration, disintegration and growth as a continual natural process.”
Museum of Symmetry - "There are no rules here. Just enjoy!" Part invitation, part dare, an impish game mistress welcomes you into a delightfully disorienting pleasure dome inspired by geometry and nature—and wired with infectious dance beats. What happens next feels like swimming through poetic rainbow juice. An absurdist mind-and-body romp through the highest clouds to the ocean deep, Museum of Symmetry is the explosive feel-good alter-universe of cartoonist and animator Paloma Dawkins—a room-scale VR experience with 2D animation in a 3D playground as never been seen before. Length: 20 minutes. Interview with Writer/Director Paloma Dawkins:
“It will remind you what it’s like to be a kid again!”
Reimagined Volume III: Young Thang - Concealed within a flat world of insects where humans are forbidden, a young girl, Young Thang, must embrace her full self to save The Community she loves from a storm of her own creation. Length: 15:00 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Melissa Joyner, Director/Producer Michaela Ternasky-Holland and Director/Producer Julie Cavaliere:
“In today’s world, it’s all too common to feel the pressure to conform, to put on a metaphorical second skin cloaking your full identity. In Young Thang’s world, a distinct two- and three-dimensional visual style not only immerses the audience in unconventional beauty but also symbolizes the challenges we encounter when our uniqueness is obscured and the transformation the world may reap from embracing our multidimensionality.”
Disappearance: Hong Kong Stories is a 360 VR non-fiction diving into the stories of three people who take us to places important to them in Hong Kong. Length: 13 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Shannon Walsh:
“While in Hong Kong, I started to explore what it would mean to make a film about a neighbourhood in that city. Around the same time, the Umbrella Movement erupted and hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers took to the streets to assert their independence from mainland China.”
UNFEAR: The Journey - What if you could be the protagonist of your own story and learn a new, powerful insight with the power to improve yourself as a person and your life, all achieved through an entertaining, interactive VR experience? UNFEAR: The Journey is a highly immersive VR experience that allows the user to overcome fears, improve personality and abilities, change perspectives, and become a better self through personalized, interactive tales with a positive cathartic effect. Length: 15-20 mins per scenario. Writer Christopher Kühne.
<REAL-LIFE STORIES>
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story - Chris Sievey was a songwriter, artist, comedian and wayward genius. A man whose life was a fantastic, subversive piece of performance art. His greatest creation, the mysterious Frank Sidebottom becomes a star – a manic, insane, mercurial star who obscures his own creator – playing at Wembley Stadium, getting his TV show and building an army of fans. Chris Sievey grows to resent his creation and descends into alcoholism and bankruptcy, but his genius cannot survive without ‘Being Frank’. So Chris devises a master plan… Length: 100 minutes. Director/Producer: Steve Sullivan:
“As I was growing up in Lancashire, in North West England, Frank was kind of like a regional folk hero. He just seemed to exist in an alternative reality somewhere near Manchester, bellowing away from inside his fake head. He was dangerous and edgy but in a really fun and silly way.”
<ALTERNATIVES>
Psychos - When three young women receive shocking videos anonymously, a nightmare is reawakened that ignites a thirst for bloody vengeance. They embark on a journey to locate the house, their sadistic captor and to discover the truth behind those locked doors. But, the most shocking revelation of this chilling tale is the identities of the victims. Length: 82 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer: Sandy Chukhadarian:
“I wanted to create an alternate reality after seeing women or anyone powerless around the world being victimized which caused their trauma; especially how the brain alters these realities. I wanted to see how the mind manipulates itself in dealing with trauma, to get a perspective from within the mind.”
Hierophany - Living on the margins of American society, a Florida boy comes in contact with the sacred. Length: 11.16 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Kevin Contento:
“I minored in philosophy, religion, and popular culture and was exposed to the writings of Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr. His perspicacity in the opening chapter of his book Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man left a lasting impression:
”Today, almost everyone living in the urbanized centers of the Western world feels intuitively a lack of something in life. This is due directly to the creation of an artificial environment from which nature has been excluded to the greatest possible extent.”