Virtual reality filmmakers have been given a platform to showcase their offerings at the 2023 “Joburg Film Festival”.
The annual event, which attracts hundreds of film enthusiast from all over the world, is currently under way in Joburg until February 5.
The festival recently announced the opportunity for VR to be part of the programme.
According to a statement released by Multichoice: “Virtual reality is still a novelty technology in much of the rest of the world, it is flourishing in Africa in the gaming, healthcare, mining, advertising and property industries and is being explored as a tool in education.
“The expansion of the tech will create its own value chain, which will help filmmakers transition more easily into VR production – giving our own storytellers the opportunity to innovate, dream, think and push boundaries on their own terms.”
Come rain or sunshine, MTF has started on a high note this evening🔥
— Joburg Film Festival (@JoburgFilmFest) February 2, 2023
Today, we’re celebrating the future of filmmaking. Sit tight because we are about to take off. #JoburgFilmFestival #JFF2023 #EnrichingLives pic.twitter.com/f7eJoxXHyM
Four VR films are being showcased at JFF this year – two from South Africa and one each from the US and Taiwan – as part of the Exploring VR Experience.
“Azibuye – The Occupation” (South Africa) is a VR/360 degree, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
“Container” makes visible the invisibilised bodies enabling the consumer society, confronting slavery through an ever-transforming shipping container, the past becomes the present, the invisible become visible.
“Meta’s The Soloist” is a ground-breaking two part series that follows mountaineer Alex Honnold’s solo adventures through the US and into the Alps.
“The Man Who Couldn’t Leave” integrates the stories of numerous political victims of Taiwan’s “White Terror”, told through the form of an undelivered family letter.
African filmmakers now have more chance of affording to produce and view VR Films thanks to the rapid decline in costs of VR technology.
As it becomes cheaper for consumers to adopt VR tech, it opens up immersive content consumption opportunities for anyone who has a headset and a compatible mobile phone, reducing filmmakers’ reliance on expensive cinema set-ups and the cost of encoding films to operate on the tech.
Indeed, with piracy being a rampant problem across the continent, delivering films directly to users without an intermediary has huge positive financial implications for filmmakers and producers.
The Joburg Film Festival kicked off across Joburg on January 31, showcasing some of the finest films from over 35 countries across the globe, including 20 African premières and 27 South African premières.