Directed by Gayatri Parameswaran, Felix Gaedtke
Art Director: Moritz Mayerhofer
VR-Experience (23 Minutes)
© NowHere Media, PokéPoké Creative, Fasad, INVR, realities.io
In the documentary VR experience KUSUNDA, you meet Hema as she reminds her grandfather of his forgotten mother tongue. You navigate through the narrative by speaking words in the endangered indigenous language, and join the fight against its extinction.
TRAILER
KUSUNDA is an intergenerational story about the sleeping Kusunda language in western Nepal. Narrated by two of its co-creators — 86-year-old shaman Lil Bahadur and his 15-year-old granddaughter Hema — this episode looks at what makes a language become dormant and the challenging task of revitalising it.
KUSUNDA is produced by NowHere Media Production and part of the series “SPEAK TO AWAKEN” which is centered on endangered languages coproduced with Taipe based Poké Poké Creative.
I’m very happy to have worked as the Art Director on this beautiful and very special VR project.
Find out more about the project and upcoming festival selections soon:
* Venice Film Festival / La Biennale di Venezia – “Expanded VR Best of Program“
* Tribeca Film Festival – WINNER – “Storyscapes Award” 2021
* Raindance Immersive – WINNER – “Best Documentary Experience” (27 October – 21 November 2021)
* stereopsia EUROPE – WINNER – “Crystal Owl – Best Heritage Experience” (10 December 2021)
* XRC nextReality.Contest – WINNER – “Interactive Entertainment” (12 November 2021)
* VR Now Awards – WINNER – “Grand Prize” 2021
* VR Now Awards – WINNER – “Best Immersive Cinema” 2021
* XR Must Awards – 2nd Place – “Best Interactive Experience” 2021
* XR Must Awards – 3rd Place – “Impact Award” 2021
* Red Sea International Film Festival – Red Sea:Immersive – NOMINEE – “Best Immersive Film Award” 2021
* Beijing Film – “Panorama” (September 2021)
* VRE Fest – “VR Interactive” (14-16 October 2021)
* Lagos International Festival of Animation (28-30 October 2021)
* New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival (5-8 November 2021)
* IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam – DocLab: VR Gallery (17-28 November 2021)
more coming up soon …
MAKING OF
Check out the Sets of KUSUNDA on SKETCHFAB:
Exhibitions / Presentations
FMX 2021
Thanks to the organizers of FMX for giving me the chance to present my work as Art Director on the VR-Documentary “Kusunda” > Fresh Visions: Emerging Artists 2 – Tuesday, May 04, ROOM M, 13:30 – 14:15
CREDITS
A NowHere Media Production
directed and produced by Gayatri Parameswaran and Felix Gaedtke
Executive Producer: René Pinnell
Associate Producer: Mia von Kolpakow
Co-created by Gyani Maiya Kusunda, Hema Kusunda, Lil Kusunda
Co-Producers: Aliki Tsakoumi, Emma Creed, Kuan-Yuan Lai, Philipp Wenning, Sönke Kirchhof
Lead developer: Tobias Wehrum
Art Director: Moritz Mayerhofer
Technical Director: Henning Schild
Editor: Mia von Kolpakow
Sound Implementation: We Are Machine Media, David Segal
Sound Design and Composition: Mads Michelsen
Moritz Mayerhofer 