A theater experience co-produced by Taiwan has been selected to be part of the extended reality (XR) section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (VIFF) in late August, while a Taiwanese animated film has been shortlisted for the festival's best short film award.
"Blur," an XR experience co-produced with Canada's PHI Studio and Greece's Onassis Culture, is to make its overseas premiere at the 2025 edition of VIFF's "Venice Immersive Selection and Competition" from Aug. 27 to Sept. 6 this year, according to a press release from Taiwan's Riverbed Theater Wednesday.
The experience garnered widespread attention after it was first shown during the Taiwan International Festival of Arts (TIFA) at the National Theater and Concert Hall's Experimental Theater from March 22 to April 2.
Photo courtesy of the National Taichung Theater via CNA
After the festival, Riverbed Theater took the experience to the National Taichung Theater Arts NOVA at the end of May.
Written and directed by Riverbed Theater's American director Craig Quintero with Canadian actress Phoebe Greenberg, Blur is a mixed-reality theater experience which blends virtual reality technology (VR), augmented reality programming, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm calculations, 4D VIEW motion capture and 3D interactive animation with a live performance by an actress who only engages with a limited 10-member audience in each show.
The show ponders the question "What if we could defeat death?" by exploring the territory between life and death as well as fact and fiction.
The experience takes the 10-member audience on a journey where they encounter magical possibilities and the terrifying consequences of scientific advancements that conquer death in the near future.
Initiated in 2017, the XR section of the annual VIFF is the first A-list level competition of its kind for XR works.
Orizzonti Short Films
In addition to Blur, Taiwanese animation director Joe Hsieh's (謝文明) "Praying Mantis" was also shortlisted by VIFF for its latest Orizzonti Short Films International Competition.
Praying Mantis will premiere alongside 13 other short films during the selection process, with the winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film getting to screen their short out of competition.
The selection of the short marked the first time a Taiwanese animation was chosen to participate in the Orizzonti Short Films International Competition.
"I am honored to bring this new work to this hallowed hall of films (VIFF)," Hsieh told CNA. "I am grateful to all the partners that have teamed up with me along the way. This honor is the fruit of all of our hard work."
According to Hsieh, it took four years and a team of 40 local animators and crew to craft the short with its pencil-sketch aesthetic.
The short film is set amid Taiwan's 1980s drinking establishment culture where a lady lures men from bars to murder them and feed their remains to her children.
The cast features the voices of Golden Horse Awards best leading actress winner Chen Shu-fang (陳淑芳) and best supporting actor winner Bamboo Chen (陳竹昇) in a full Taiwanese-Hoklo dialect animated short thriller production.
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