Virtual reality is very much in the hype phase right now, what with the recent launches of two of the most highly anticipated hardware systems, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. But as those systems arrive in consumers’ hands, most of the attention paid to VR content has gone to games. One startup wants to shine the spotlight on the independent storytelling created for the technology.
Today, Oakland, California-based Kaleidoscope announced the winners of its 2016 world tour, which brought together virtual reality filmmakers and artists in Paris, Melbourne, Tel Aviv, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, and other cities.
Kaleidoscope plans on giving out more than $50,000 worth of prizes–products, services, and software donated by sponsors–to the winners of a number of categories.
Those winners are:
- Mike Tucker’s Tana Pura, which won Kaleidoscope’s grand prize for excellence in cinematic VR. The project is an “audio-visual exploration of the moments following death and the soul’s transformation into the afterlife.”
- James George’s and Jonathan Minard’s Clouds, which won best documentary for its “portrait of a community of digital pioneers, explored through the lens of code.”
- Director Pierre Friquet scored Kaleidoscope’s award for best live action experience with Jet Lag, a film that tells the story of two lovers ripped apart by visa politics in India.
- Tyler Hurd won the award for best animated experience with his film Old Friend, a Yellow Submarine-like music video featuring music by Future Islands.
- Kaleidoscope handed out its prize for best interactive experience to La Peri, from Balthazar Auxietre, a “visually stunning pas de deux between two dancers, one played by the viewer.”
- A favorite at the recent Sundance Film Festival, Notes on Blindness from Arnaud Colinart, Amaury La Burthe, Peter Middleton, and James Spinney examines what John Hull went through when he began to lose his sight in 1983.