To what extent can virtual reality cause emotions? To what degree can the spectator connect with a work, characters, a story? In 10 minutes, “Fresh Memories: The Look” answers all these questions in a steep way.
“Fresh Memories: The Look” is a film in virtual reality at the heart of the War in Ukraine, co -forced by Ondrej Moravec and Volodymyr Kolbasa. For 10 minutes, the spectator is faced with characters who have undergone the horrors of the war in Ukraine.
The scenes from this Czechian-Ukrainian short film were shot in Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, located about fifty kilometers from the Russian border. It was one of the hardest affected areas and this film comes to “extract” emotions from simple people who are faced with this war.
This 10-minute film evokes an essential question: “Is the spectator capable of supporting the eyes of those who have lost everything?” This is the key question posed “Fresh Memories: The Look”.
This short film transports viewers through virtual reality and confronts them with the inhabitants of Kharkiv, in the middle of the rubble and infrastructure affected by the war.
Pleasing, overwhelming look… without casting!
By the simple look of these inhabitants, the two directors wanted to transmit the emotions of the protagonists, who are neither comedians nor extras, but simple people, who have generally lost everything.
This 360 ° documentary stages the horrors of war in Ukraine, but it is also an invitation to look in the eyes of people cruelly affected by war. Are we able to manage such an emotionally face to face? As virtual reality wants, the spectator is transported, teleported to another reality and is confronted with characters and their souls who have experienced the unimaginable.
Through looks, eyes, faces, expressions, he can try to guess their emotions: fear, pain, sadness, anger, loss, distrust! In these eyes, a lot of pain and suffering, appear but also from pride and hope.
This 360 ° documentary stages the horrors of war in Ukraine, but it is also an invitation to look in the eyes of people cruelly affected by war.
Produced by Immersive Brainz and inspired by the famous performance of Marina Abramović, a pioneer in this field, this film is, ultimately an immersive experience in the first person, wrapped in empathy.
An “empathy machine”
As the co -readers Ondrej Moravec and Volodymyr Kolbasa, as well as the filmmaker and producer Med Arbi Soualhia, remind you so well, virtual reality helps the spectator in the heart of history so that he participates in his own way. It is an “empathy machine”, a teleportation machine, a passport to another reality, etc. It is in this sense that “Fresh Memories: The Look” attacks human emotion!
This raw look at the reality of war in Ukraine; the bombed streets, the destroyed buildings; the intense look of survivors; etc … All this shakes up and disturbs our feelings, especially since the immersive side has remained powerful. The co -operators opted for the silence of the protagonists to accentuate this immersive side, which gives the spectator the choice to create his own narration. “These are 10 minutes overwhelming … Just by using looks to tell a story, the work becomes poignant in itself … Each look provokes an emotion, a connection,” insists Med Arbi Soualhia.
This raw look at the reality of war in Ukraine.
Technically, the shooting of “Fresh Memories: The Look” lasted three days and took place in Kharkiv the help of an Insta360 Pro 2 Camera. The assembly and editing lasted three months.
From there and what the film provides as emotions and feelings, does virtual reality attack human emotion? We experienced these 10 minutes of “Fresh Memories: The Look”. It seemed an eternity given the depth of the unbearable emotions felt.
As such, this feeling was shared wherever the film was presented in the world and in particular to the prestigious American film festival South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas (United States) in March where it was a great success. On this subject, the director Volodymyr Kolbasa evokes his lived experience when a Brazilian, melted into tears and entwined it, very moved by what he had just lived, emotionally touched by the experience of virtual reality, by this reality with which the Ukrainians confronted every day, but also by this unique, personal, intimate, and quite deep experience.
Does virtual reality attack human emotion?
Immersion and perceptions
During the debate, which turned around the film, on September 30 at the Al Kitab bookstore, the co -readers, as well as Med Arbi Souahlia (XR Creative Director, filmmaker, producer, creative technologist, artistic director, etc.) and Selim Harbi (filmmaker, Trans Media storyteller and exhibition commissioner), were unanimous in saying that on the basis of this film, human to the point of upsetting it.
As such, Med Arbi Souahlia, specialist in the matter and especially co -founder of VSTORIES, a startup specializing in the creation of immersive and interactive audiovisual content, embarked, in 2016, in the production of 360 ° and virtual reality videos and augmented reality with a first experience carried out in Syria.
Artistic director The VR section of the Gabes Cinéma Fen 2021 festival, he is currently working on how immersive media can shape public perceptions on issues such as heritage, the environment and global warming. A project on Berber culture is also in preparation.
During the debate, which turned around the film, on September 30 at the Al Kitab bookstore, the co -directories, as well as Med Arbi Souahlia and Selim Harbi, were unanimous to say that on the basis of this film, virtual reality attacks human emotion to the point of upsetting it.
The directors, who are they?
Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic) is a director, screenwriter and independent producer. He collaborates closely with the independent creative group Brainz Studios. He worked on his first feature film and project (virtual reality) VR Darkening from 2019 to 2022. The world first of Darkening took place at the Venice Mostra in 2022 and was then nominated for the Czech Lion Prize in the animated film category. His new Fresh Memories project: The Look was presented at first at the South by Southwest festival.
Since 2014, he has worked as an independent playwright for several Festivals of Czech films. He organizes the VR films categories at Anifilm, Letní Filmová Škola, Febiofest and Zlín Film Fest festivals. Since 2018, he has worked as playwright and member of the board of directors of the Pavel Koutecky Prize.
Since 2022, he has worked as an advisor to the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, focusing on subsidies from film festivals. Moravec studied scenario writing to the Prague Fumu and he also holds a master’s degree in journalism and media studies at Charles University.
Volodymyr Kolbasa (Ukraine), director and screenwriter, he holds a master’s degree in digital narration to the International Filmschule in Cologne, Germany, and a diploma of director of photography of a Master Combined Viewfinder Ma Erasmus Mundus program.
He worked as director of photography for the second team of a American-Ukrainian documentary film Stalking Chernobyl: exploration after apocalypse. During his studies, he decided to focus on the field of VR narration to explore the potential of virtual reality as a means of narration.
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The film “Fresh Memories: The Look” can be viewed at the Al Kitab Libraie until October 8, 2023.
