Fairmont Austin, 101 Red River St, Austin, TX
March 10-12, 2024

TRACES – The Grief Processor

by Couzin Films

TRACES is a collective, immersive VR documentary based on its creator Vali Fugulin’s own journey in the delicate intricacies of sorrow surrounding grief. 

It allows up to four participants to create their own personal tribute to a departed loved one – or other significant loss – exploring the “wild edge of sorrow” in a virtual space, while creatively processing that bundle of emotionally charged grief in a poetic, symbolic way. 

Speaking to the user’s unconscious, TRACES is an art piece, a humanistic and social experience in which you, and your grief, become the main protagonists. Its participatory, reality-based storytelling explores notions of intimacy and the sacred in VR-XR technologies. 

This docuXR journey is at the confluence of UGC participative narrativity, multiplayer mechanics and location-based VR experiences. It asks the essential questions of creating and documenting memories in the virtual world, the experience of creating one’s own narrative in real time, and the sharing of profound human emotions in the XR world. 

Inspired by an atmosphere of discovery, and set in an evanescent surreal natural landscape, its collective storytelling mechanics evoke a never seen before docu-virtual ritual, where sorrows and spirits are scattered in a part of nature, thereby relieving us of grief, and daring us to love once more. 

“When we come to our grief with reverence, we find ourselves in right relationship with sorrow, neither too far away nor too close. We have entered into an ongoing conversation with this difficult, holy visitor. Learning we can be with our grief, holding it softly, and warmly, is the first task in our apprenticeship.”
Francis Weller

Credits: 
VR Experience: Vali Fugulin
Production: Couzin Studio

The Missing Half 

by Telescope films

The Missing Half is an 18+ dystopian XR theatre adventure rooted in Aristophanes’ myth from Plato. Through a sensual cinematic lens, this journey aims to enrich our  comprehension of romantic passion and its influence on modern society.

CREDITS: 
Executive Producer: Samuel Caron, Production company, Telescope films
Producer and Project Leader: Pauline Boisbouvier
Designer and Director: Benjamin Nicolas
Creative Director: Sam Greffe
Technology Director and Designer: Hugues Caillères
Set Designer: Geneviève Lizotte
Lead 3d artist: Eddy Loukil
Dancers and Co-choreographers: Sarah Hanley and James Viveiros

The Lost Child

by Inaru Films

By following the escape of a boy with ADHD into a mystical forest, the audience will be led to question their own acceptance of difference.

Synopsis

During a field trip with the scouts, Manzi, an ingenious and energetic 10-year-old boy, escapes into the forest after an argument with his group. As a storm looms over, the boreal forest transforms into an enchanted tropical jungle where familiar presences question Manzi’s solitary drift. Through VR storytelling, The Lost Child offers the fantastic tale of a boy confronted with his differences who must find his path and his place in an adventure where self-acceptance is the key to self-discovery.

Concept

As they follow Manzi in a virtual forest in 3D animation, users will get increasingly exposed to his unconventional reality. A world filled with distractions and sensory overload that alter his perception and behavior. A world that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are very familiar with.

The person diagnosed with ADHD, a neurocognitive disorder that affects 5% to 7% of children, is often perceived as disruptive and is expected to fit into a mold that is utterly restrictive, even aggressive. Inspired by African initiation tales, The Lost Child carries a philosophical mission by questioning our acceptance of difference.

Team members:
Producers : Mylène Augustin and Marie Ka
Writers: Justice Rutikara and Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin
Interactive Designer: Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin
Interactive Consultant: Ziad Touma
Illustrations: Unstandard Studio
3D Animation (demo): couleur.tv

REFLECTION

by Noukii

REFLECTION is an installation in which we bring emotions to life to create a unique and singular piece of art: our emotional footprint. The piece of art created by generative AI uses the participant’s captured biometric data and is intended to reflect the participant’s felt and induced emotions as if they were seeing our reflection of self. 

Noukii, a production company that pushes the limits of technology to give a human dimension to the cultural experiences of tomorrow. Noukii redefines the boundaries of innovation with its experiences that mix immersion, artificial intelligence and digital technology while placing the human perspective at the heart of each of its projects.

Credits: 
Ideator and Producer: Anouk Ethier, Noukii
Business development: Virginie Jaffredo, Jaxa Productions
CEO: Frederic Simard, RE-AK Technologies
CEO: Gaëlle Ramboanasolo, _gradiant.
Artist AI: Marie-Christine Laniel, Bain de Minuit
Sound design and recording: couleur.tv
Voice: Ariane Bélanger