22/12/2023 - We explore the meaning and function of VR within the context of cinema through Animateka's exhibition of the medium

As I entered the VR exhibition at the Animateka International Animated Film Festival in Ljubljana, my thoughts were converging around one main question – is this even cinema? In film history, cinema technologies have always striven to become more immersive and entertaining. Some, like colour or sound, felt like great dividers, while others seemed more gimmicky. 

The thought of virtual reality in cinema is almost as old as the filmmaking tradition itself. In 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley Weinbaum described the pair of goggles which would place the viewer in the midst of a movie. Although VR in education, healthcare, or even everyday internet surfing (Google Street View is indeed a VR technology) is nothing new, VR’s entry into cinema might still be perceived as doubtful, given that it quite literally places viewers within stories. Is it necessary? Our brains work in such a remarkable way that there’s no difference between the verbs ‘to do’ and ‘to see.’ Mirror neurons directly reflect the emotions we see on screen into our brains. Long story short, storytelling is the almighty tool that makes us believe in the magic we call cinema. 

As I pulled on the VR headset in the Animateka VR exhibition, suddenly feeling totally isolated from reality, I was anticipating an immersive game led by storytelling instruments. But I was amazed to find that storytelling was at the centre of all the films and that VR techniques were only used to advance the plot. Manu Weiss, the curator of the VR exhibition, explains that the main criterion for this year’s programming was a narrative: “Animateka is an author-based festival, so I try to curate works based around this. We have lots of traditional filmmakers who use VR as a medium within their work, and we’re trying to showcase more of these works, which gravitate towards storytelling but which use an immersive medium to do so.”

Some films did feel a little too gamey in parts. Missing 10 Hours by Fanni Fazakas is essentially an interactive story about date rape. The viewer is a bystander as the horrendous events unfold, but then they suddenly have the power to put a stop to it. The film’s neon colours and design contrast organically with the heavy topic at its core. All in all, the film teaches us an incredibly important lesson: passivity is also a choice.

Darkening by Ondřej Moravec and Emperor by Marion Burger and Illan J. Cohen use VR to translate the main characters’ states of mind. It might seem too daunting to explore the mind of a person with depression, as is the case in Darkening, but the voice-interactive section, where viewers are asked to shout or hum, makes the whole experience therapeutic. Emperor invites the viewer to see the world through the eyes of a man suffering from aphasia and trying to remember his life through fragments of his faltering memories. The constant alternation between interactive sections and narration coming courtesy of his daughter is neatly tied together by the film’s minimalistic black-and-white colour scheme, which creates an almost foggy, fleeting effect, mirroring the protagonist’s memories. 

The film which won the first Animateka VR Competition award was Flow VR, directed by Adriaan Lokman. Flow VR is an intricate story told through a dynamicity of lines, the film’s never-ending, breath-taking movements practically turning wind force into a tangible experience.

Each of the films in the competition line-up were different in their own way, using VR uniquely in order to engage the viewer and convey the plot. Manu Weiss summarized the uniqueness of the films presented: “When bringing traditional film media into VR, filmmakers always have to think about the medium itself, because some things don’t work in traditional films. Borrowing elements from the traditional process is okay, but you also have to be open enough to adjust it to whatever you work with”.

Streaming services have changed audience behaviour, but movie theatres aren’t going anywhere, even after COVID; there’s a beauty to the fleeting love-hate relationship we experience with the stranger in the seat next to us, and VR - an individual and isolating experience at heart – won’t change that.

Did I have my fair share of scepticism towards VR in filmmaking? Definitely. But do I now feel that it should be given a chance to evolve as an entirely new artform? Yes, and I’m incredibly curious to see where it will lead.