Venezia76 and Venice Virtual Reality: news from Lido on Lazzaretto, lineup and VR events

First news from the Venice Virtual Reality of Venezia76: works in competition, changes in Lazzaretto, VR events and accreditations.

Do you remember those endless weeks we used to go through while waiting for the next episode of our favourite TV-show? Moments that are now mostly forgotten, with Netflix and binge watching aiding us in a faster fruition... but that you can still live in other situations.

As in the days that separate you from the press conference in Rome when La Biennale announces the movies that will be at Lido Venezia for the Venice Film Festival that year.

For me and my colleagues, it is one of the favourite events in our "fandom" year - and one of the moments we wait for the most. We don't "do" popcorns while watching it, since in Italy it's 11am when the conference starts, but believe me, we would, if popcorns went well with the coffee we usually drink at that time of the day.

Once again - 2019 - the long wait was worth it. Starting from the movies in competition at Venezia76 of which Joker, directed by Todd Philipps, is probably my favourite choice.

On fanheart3 website we talked about some details of the press conference that looked particularly interesting, but we just mentioned the Venice VR in passing. However, once again the Venice Virtual Reality section looks incredibly promising and I can hardly wait to experience it.

Three the main news that were shared by Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival, and by La Biennale:

Venice Virtual Reality: works in competition and out of competition

The whole Venezia76 lineup can be found at the official site of La Biennale and it includes extraordinary works, both among those presented for the first time in Venice and among those that traveled to festivals around the world in the past two years (Wolves in the Walls: It's All Over, to mention one, which you can read about in these two great articles, the first by Pola Wei?, here, and the other by XRmust here).

I did a recap of the Venezia76 VR lineup in the Italian version of this article. Here, I'd just like to point out that I finally have the answer I was waiting for while writing this post.

The three projects selected from the Biennale College Virtual Reality 2018/2019 are:

• the poetic Feather directed by Keisuke Itoh and produced by Katsutoshi Machiba;
• the fascinating Szpety (Whispers) directed by Patrick Jordanowicz and Jacek Nag?owski and produced by Jacek Naglowsky;
• the magical Sublimation, directed by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron and produced by Astrid Kahmke and S?nke Kirchhof (whom I was lucky enough to interview here).

Congratulations to all of them! It will be great to see how the ideas I listened to while at the Biennale event of last January took shape and turned into full-formed VR works.

And thus was light: electricity at Lazzaretto

The first news that La Biennale shared with us in relation to VR, though, is that from this year electricity has reached Lazzaretto Vecchio - where the section takes place - for the first time ever.

And indeed, the recovery work of the Lazzaretto isle - that once housed a hospice for the care and isolation of patients suffering from the plague - was also made possible by the choice La Biennale did to place a section dedicated to virtual reality in this small area (courtesy of the Polo Museale Veneziano and the Provveditorato alle Opere Pubbliche) and not directly in Lido, where the film sections are located.

A winning choice because it fits the concept of virtual reality itself: a media that is certainly connected to cinema, but with characteristics and an identity that make it something completely different, too.

To visit Lazzaretto is to physically leave behind something we have known for years and to reach a whole new world we are still discovering. Definitely a symbolic and metaphorical passage that well represents virtual reality.

Events about VR for the Venice Production Bridge

Venezia76 will not only offer experiences in VR but also events that the Venice Production Bridge will organize to support production and knowledge of this media. Specifically:

• Friday, August 30, from 10.00am to 1pm, Spazio Incontri (VR Isle): VR Pitch. Presentation of the 12 VR Immersive Story Projects / Venice Gap-Financing Market
• Friday, August 30, from 2pm to 4pm, Spazio Incontri (VR isle): Brussels XR ecosystem: cutting edge companies and regional support organized by hub.brussels
• Saturday, August 31, from 11am to 1pm,  Spazio Incontri (VR isle): Collective Wisdom on VR Island. Panel and reception on Co-Creative Practices organized by CoCreation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab
• Sunday, September 1, from 2.30pm to 5pom, Spazio Incontri (VR isle): Symposium on The Art of Reviewing VR, part of the official program of La Biennale Venice VR – Competition

Accreditation at Venice Virtual Reality

People who already have an accreditation for the Venice Film Festival will be able to experience the Venice Virtual Reality for the whole duration of the festival (reservations on La Biennale official website are obligatory).

For those who just want to experience VR, though, it is possible to request a special VR accreditation valid for admissions, upon booking and depending on availability, to the Venice Virtual Reality section only. "VR accreditations can be purchased in two versions: Full, valid for five days (from 3rd to 7th September), costing € 60, and Daily, valid for one day, costing € 20" (from Venezia76 press kit).

No excuses, then. You need to be at the Venice VR.

And now back to waiting. But only for other 32 days.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Agnese Pietrobon, Storylistener, independent researcher and virtual reality enthusiast.

Please feel free to contact me at i[email protected]

And come find me on fanheart3 too... some exciting news about Venezia76 and Venice Virtual Reality are coming...t