After Sundance, the new edition of SXSW offers a showcase for French projects – an occasion for UniFrance to provide support for the North American premieres of five French immersive works.
The latest edition of Sundance (01/24-02/03/19) has recently finished and this year the recommended event in terms of immersive works had selected two French coproductions for its New Frontier strand: Gloomy Eyes (Atlas V, 3dar) and Mechanical Souls (Digital Rise, Serendipity Films). The first production – starring Colin Farrell, and embued with a gothic-dreamlike atmosphere worthy of Tim Burton – received strong media coverage.
These two atypical creations will continue their careers across the Atlantic in March, with a presentation at SXSW (03/8-17/19). Apart from Gloomy Eyes and Mechanical Souls, France will also be represented in Austin by three other VR works:
- -22.7°C, a musical documentary codirected by Molécule and Jan Kounen (world premiere, photo)
- Eclipse, selected at Venice VR, the science-fiction work will receive its North American premiere
- Vectronom, coproduced by Arte, a hypnotic video game about music and geometry.
These many selections are the occasion for the French Immersion program to support all these VR projects. Initiated by the cultural services of the Ambassade de France in the United States and arising from a collaboration with Unifrance, the CNC, Institut Français, and now Air France, the mechanism seeks to reinforce the promotion of French immersive works in the United States.
Hence, in the first three months of 2019, five VR creations have already benefited from the support of the French Immersion program.
The complete VR program at SXSW can be found here.
