Virtual Reality: Myths and Legends

Madame Pirate

Taiwan, France, 2024, 17 min, English

directors: Morgan Ommer, Dan Chi Huang

age: 13+

In September 1809, in the midst of a battle between the Qing Dynasty’s military forces and a fleet of 70,000 pirates, a young female interpreter is captured. During her fight for survival, she finds out that neither side is what she expected. The authors decided to narrate the ancient story using the most advanced technology that combines live action with 3D animation. Their immersive story, based on a traditional Chinese legend, highlights the influential yet neglected role of women in the wartime history of the greatest eastern empire.

Reimagined Vol. 1: Nyssa

USA, 2022, 15 min, English

director: Julie Cavaliere

age: 10+

The story about young Nyssa was inspired by the Brothers Grimm folktale “A Tale of the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was”. But the author replaced the male hero with a young heroine, a fearless witch who leaves her village in order to find her best friend, a stray flying broom. On the way, she meets a familiar spirit, Blue, and together they travel into the depths of the dark magical realm. Can Nyssa understand the meaning of fear and intuition to save her village?

Reimagined 2: Mahal

USA, 2023, 19 min, English

director: Michaela Ternasky-Holland

age: 10+

This folktale, inspired by Philippine mythology, focuses on the four immortal children of the recently deceased Bathala, the God of creation. What will their grief cause on Earth? The traditional tale accentuates the psychological topic of working with anger and creates a parallel to the current young generation who are courageously trying to work with their fragile inner emotional landscape.

Reimagined Vol. 3: Young Thang

USA, 2024, 16 min, English

directors: Melissa Joyner, Julie Cavaliere, Michaela Ternasky-Holland

age: 10+

Young Thang is a human girl living in a place where humans are considered a threat. To blend in and survive, Young Thang’s guardians urge her to wear a second skin. This adaptation of an original Nigerian legend focuses on the topic of self-acceptance, both in terms of one’s appearance and identity in a broader sense. The visual style combines traditional Nigerian folk motifs with modern minimalistic geometric patterns and creates a unique feel that targets young audiences.

Close

Poland, 2023, 25 min, English

directors: Hana Umeda, Dorota Sosnowska

age: 15+

In the traditional Japanese dance jiutamai, the dancers tell stories only through controlled body movements and gentle gestures. This ancient art is full of ambiguities, latent erotic energy and creativity. Polish author Hana Umeda presents this dance from several perspectives: she criticises the Western white gaze and shares her own experience as a dancer dealing with issues of representing her own body that deviates from stereotypical ideals. It’s up to the audience which of the perspectives they decide to listen to – at the end they all come together in an impressive performance in which Umeda goes to smash the patriarchy with a baseball bat.

Gargoyle Doyle

USA, 2022, 15 min, English

director: Julie Cavaliere

age: 10+

Doyle is a grouchy, self-important gargoyle who suffers from the inferiority complex, as he was damaged during the building of the cathedral. Along with other gargoyles, he was relegated to a forgotten back alcove, just two metres from Chet, a decorative metal rain gutter. Chet is the opposite of Doyle. He’s an optimistic chatterbox who never shuts up. The pair watches the world change around them while their alcove falls into disrepair. Gradually, the legend of their origins begins to surface.

Sister Lin-Tou

Taiwan, 2023, 11 min, no dialogue

director: Hsiao-Mei Ho

age: 15+

The Sister Lin-Tou project is based on the eponymous Taiwanese folklore tale with a horror tinge which exists in various versions, but always thematizes female resilience against adversities and vengefulness. The VR version delivers an abstract, non-dialogue variation on this traditional story. It takes us on a ride through the landscape of a giant female body which is exposed in its physical vulnerability, but also invincibility. A flight over body hair and crackled heels reveals how our bodies hold past traumas and how what we often think of as imperfections can be a testament to our own strength.

The Cave VR

Poland, 2024, 230 min, English, no dialogue

directors: Jowita Guja, Adam Żądło

age: 12+

In his book, The Republic, Plato introduced a metaphor that inspired many other philosophical concepts. What if the world we live in is just a cave and the events we experience are only shadows projected on the walls? Polish artists Jowita Guja and Adam Żądło come with a new interactive adaptation of this metaphor. They preserve the original meaning, but place it in a new context and pose new questions. What if the cave has no boundaries? What if it’s inside another cave? The authors offer both physically and mentally challenging experience that should move the audience further in their thoughts about the distortion of reality.

Ito Meikyu

France, 2024, 20 min, no dialogue

director: Boris Labbé

age: 12+

Ito Meikyu is an audiovisual abstract poem in virtual reality that draws on the history of Japanese art and literature (Fukinuki Yatai, The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book) and unravels like a large sensory fresco weaved from the threads of everydayness. A manifold set of cartoon, animation and sound scenes intertwines and creates a subjective labyrinth inhabited by plants, objects, animals, men, women and bizarre life motifs. Boris Labbé made a vicious space based on the randomness of our decisions. We are playing hide-and-seek with the universe and with an omniscient spectator standing at the centre. The project was awarded with the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival 2024.

This Is Not a Ceremony

Canada, 2022, 21 min, English subtitles

director: Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon)

age: 12+

How do indigenous peoples in North America bear the scars of colonialism? And is it possible to heal them through a magical ceremony? We are standing in an arena. For a moment, it looks like a circus performance is about to start. A fiery buffalo stampedes through the space. Two comedians with long braids in red suits are coming in. They welcome us to the stage full of indigenous symbols. But they also tell the stories of those who suffered the cruelty of unrelenting racism. In a very unique way, the project mixes social issues with the colourful spiritual life of Native Americans.

Lavrynthos

Brazil, Peru, 2021, 16 min, English

directors: Fabito Rychter, Amir Admoni

age: 12+

Lavrynthos places you at the heart of the labyrinth of Crete to tell you the story of the unlikely relationship between the Minotaur and his next meal: a girl named Cora. A contemporary Greek tragedy pays homage to the cradle of modern dramatic theory and challenges it at the same time. Lavrynthos is a humorous take on a 3000-year-old myth updating it with themes and topics that are relevant in this day and age. It messes up with your sense of direction, space and balance and tries to target those who have felt lost in recent years.

Baba Yaga

USA, 2020, 27 min, English

directors: Eric Darnell, Mathias Chelebourg

age: 12+

The leading American VR studio, Baobab Studios, embarked on a high-budget project with the fairytale classic Baba Yaga. The wicked witch who casts a spell upon the life-giving forest was voiced by Kate Winslet. The story revolves around Magda, the daughter of a terminally ill queen. She has to find a cure for her mother, face her fears and escape the bubbling cauldron of the malevolent witch. This unique interactive story revives one of the most famous fairytales in a fresh and entertaining way.

Ondřej Moravec