Oto’s Planet, a 28-minute interactive VR story directed by Gwenael François, won the CHF 10,000 ($11,400) top prize in the Immersive Experiences competition at the 30th edition of the Geneva International Film Festival which closed on November 9.
The French, Canadian and Luxembourg co-production follows the quiet lives of Oto and Skippy on a tiny planet. Sales and distribution are being handled by Paris-based immersive specialist Astrea
The Immersive Experiences strand was open to VR, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) work. It forms a cornerstone of the festival’s tradition of showcasing artists working in digital arts.
The festival’s Reflet d’Or for best feature was awarded to Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language. The Reflet d’Or carried a cash prize of CHF 10,000 ($11,400), provided by the Swiss city and the state of Geneva, 75% of which goes to the director and 25% to the rights holder.
Universal Language is a conceptual Canadian comedy is set in Winnipeg, that pays homage to Iranian cinema. It debuted at Cannes this year, playing in Directors’ Fortnight.
The CHF 10,000 ($11,400) Migros Cultural Percentage prize in the Future Is Sensible programme was won by Greek director Alexandros Avranas’s family drama Quiet Life. The film highlights the phenomenon of Child Resignation Syndrome, which sees children completely withdraw into themselves in a coma-like stasis. France’s Elle Driver is selling the film that made its world premiere in the Horizons section of Venice in September.
The CHF 10,000 ($11,400) Reflet D’Or for best international series went to Danish series Bullshit from Milad Alami, Bo Hr. Hansen and Molly Malene Stensgaard. The series revs up the story of the first big biker war in Denmark in the 1980s via its origins in the 1970s, where rootless young people try to create a community outside the established society
The inaugural prize for Swiss series storytelling, aimed at growing the festival as a hub for innovation in audiovisual fiction, was won by Swiss-Belgium series Les Indociles, created by Joanne Giger, Camille Rebetez and Delphine Lehericey. It came with a CHF 20,000 ($23,000) cash prize from SSA and Suissimage cultural funds.
Broadcast in Switzerland by RTS, Les Indociles is set in Jura, billed as Switzerland’s most rebellious state, and follows the story of a group of friends on the verge of adulthood who dream of a world of freedom and equality.
US filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer Ava DuVernay was presented with the Film & Beyond honorary prize, while Sarah Kenderdine, director and curator of EPFL Pavilions, the exhibitions on the campus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and head of the Experimental Museology Lab (eM+) at EPFL was given the festival’s Tales of Swiss Innovation honourary plaudit.
The Geneva Digital Market (GDM), the industry strand of the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) posted a 13% rise in attendance this year, running from November 4-7. The GDM focused on audiovisual innovation, bringing together over 900 international participants in the fields of emerging technologies, arts and creation, to swap ideas on the challenges facing the sector. Spotlighted topics included the gamification of television and the issues surrounding interactive live broadcasting.
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