The 2019 edition of Astra Film Festival returns with an extensive and exciting selection of creative films made using the newest VR (virtual reality) and full-dome (360 degrees screening) technologies. For the fourth consecutive year these innovative productions will offer the audience a maximum-intensity audiovisual experience between 14 and 20 October in the Dome that will be located in the Large Square of Sibiu.
In the special section called The Future is Today, the Dome, a space dedicated to immersive stories at Astra Film Festival, will present films that employ immersive technologies in order to be able to go deep into the concept at hand and to raise awareness on the subjects tackled by the documentaries, offering the audience an unique experience. Unlike classical two-dimensional screenings in movie theatres, the immersive films in the Grand Dome (full-dome) and the Small Dome (VR) challenge the audience’s perception of space, movement and interaction upon watching them.
Using dedicated VR devices and equipment, 6 films produced using virtual reality defy our day-to-day limits as we know them as they transport moviegoers to new realities and places. Five of these films are from the Al Jazeera collection, a television channel that has revolutionized media in the Arab world, and these are: Winter, Leave – explores the reasons why the air has become so toxic during winter in Skopje; From Waste to Taste – presents innovative ideas on how to counteract food waste in Brasil; The Curse of Palm Oil – captures the conflict between the forestry companies and the indigenous people of Malaysia; Dreaming in Za’atari – presents the life of the young generation of people in Syria after the civil war that started in 2011; Pearls of the Past – introduces us to the past of Qatar before it became the richest country in the world due to the exploitation of oil. This year’s VR programme is completed by the Romanian film Atinge, which aims to raise awareness on the issue of social inequality.
This year, the line-up of non-fiction films created for full-dome screenings includes productions that explore the beginning of life and the universe (Genesis), space and our galaxy (Touch the Stars, Sphere, Galactica, Kyma – Power of Waves), the coral reefs from the depths of the ocean (The Reefs of Belize), the mysteries of antique mega-structures (Memory of Light, Luminokaya, Hidden Garden Version Saiho), the stories behind some of the oldest forms of art in the world (Remote Sense) but also productions that offer a profound and abstract visual show (Sonolumin, Urban Levitation, Uncharted Domain, Desconexion, The Snowflake Adventure).
Promising an extremely captivating cinema experience for children and teenagers, 9 other films are included in the Astra Film Junior selection, the first and the broadest audiovisual education programme in Romania based on the screening of documentaries, marking its 11th edition this year. The films tackle various subjects, from how the Earth has turned into a livable planet (Birth of Planet Earth), to space missions (The Adventures of Rosetta & Philae, CAPCOM GO! – The Apollo Story, Destination Mars: The New Frontier, Khrumka and the Magic Rocket), the fascination with the night sky (American West), the phenomena of the northern lights (Arora), to discovering the origins of the five elements that are essential to the material world (Whale dreams) and legends about the creation of the world, the moon and the galaxy (HOW IT WAS TOLD TO ME: Maori Legends from New Zealand).
”Technology is just a part of the films included in The Future is Today programme since storytelling is the avenue that first and foremost justifies the use of technology. The films selected in this special programme of Astra Film Festival reinvent traditional cinema, propose new screening methods and offer an intense immersive experience that cannot be reproduced at home. Thus, the Dome in the Large Square represents a very rare opportunity for audiences to be transported in impossible places, to explore them and to discover them as if they were actually there. As customary for each edition of the festival, we wanted to deliver a programme that would be attractive for both the general audience and the youngest moviegoers. There will be a very large variety of experiences that are not to be missed”, said Dumitru Budrala, founding director of Astra Film Festival.