Venice (AFP)
"Can you tell what is real and what is not?"
Tilda Swinton asks as the room disintegrates into millions of pixels.
The British actress has also converted to the world of virtual reality, highlighted at the 78th Venice Film Festival, and on the way to becoming a medium with both incredible and disconcerting potential.
She is the narrator of "Goliath", on the trajectory of a man who sinks into schizophrenia, illustrated by special effects and interactive experiences which show his progressive loss of contact with reality.
This film, presented in the VR (for Virtual Reality) section of the Venice Film Festival, is just one of the many experiences available to those willing to cover their face with a mask / helmet in the cramped space of 'a cabin.
"Container" represents a particularly surprising experience: at first, the container fills with water as a woman desperately tries to escape drowning, then it suddenly becomes a massage parlor where a man tries to coerce a woman. woman having sex, and finally a textile workshop ...
The "spectator" is immersed in the image, a few centimeters from the characters, to such an extent that the feeling of reality is visceral and almost causes a feeling of unease.
"Virtual reality is an encounter between immersive theater and technology. It has enormous potential that is beyond imagination on what people can experience in space and in art," May Abdalla told AFP. one of the creators of "Goliath".
"Virtual reality is not suitable for all projects. You have to find the right experience," she adds.
One of the most daring experiences presented in Venice is "In the mist", a work that flirts with art and porn, which takes place for a quarter of an hour in a gay sauna.
- "It's going to be a hit" -
For Michel Reilhac, one of the heads of the VR section of the festival, it is a contemporary dance show that "transcends sexuality".
He also specifies that the porn cinema industry is the only one at this stage to make profits thanks to virtual reality.
VR is now present in most major film festivals, from Sundance to Cannes, but the rapid development of this sector remains unknown.
British actress Tilda Swinton, July 16, 2021 in Cannes CHRISTOPHE SIMON AFP / Archives
"Technology has reached a stage where creators are no longer obsessed with the technological aspect (...) and where virtual reality has become an art form in its own right", estimates Michel Reilhac.
In Venice, you can see 360-degree films where the viewer can look around but without interacting with the objects, but also enjoy other experiences where he becomes an avatar completely immersed in an interactive world.
"Your brain is deceived and you can't stop it. When you're standing on the edge of a cliff, it's impossible not to feel dizzy," describes another Venezia VR manager, Liz Rosenthal.
The potential of this sector remains to be explored.
"You discover the possibilities by working with the tools", summarizes May Badalla.
"With a film, there is already a sophisticated relationship with the audience. They understand the vocabulary of cinema. But with virtual reality, it's often their first time. You have to take that into account. It's a collaboration" .
For years, VR has been supposed to reach the general public, but never really succeeding, in particular because of the cost of the equipment.
It was only from the mid-2010s that a number of groups such as Google, Apple and Amazon began to invest in this sector.
According to Michel Reilhac, the pandemic has however accelerated the trend, with the possibility of organizing virtual meetings to participate in games for example.
A visitor watches a virtual reality (VR) film at the Venice Film Festival, September 8, 2021 Marco BERTORELLO AFP
The potential of this new medium was illustrated last month when Facebook, which owns headset maker Oculus, unveiled "Horizon Workrooms," a project that allows people to work together virtually.
"Another two or three years and we'll see where we are, but I bet it's going to be a hit," he concludes.
© 2021 AFP