Cyber Shorts Film Festival Brings Films Into Virtual Reality

HENDERSON, Nev. - EntSun -- Cyber Shorts: A VR Film Festival is not a real-world film festival with provided VR headsets and 360 video. It is one of the first film festivals ever to be conceived of specifically for and hosted on Microsoft's AltspaceVR platform. Festival Directors Darryl A. Armstrong and Shahab Zargari developed the idea to launch a film festival using the platform after hosting a successful event on it for author Matt Ruff (Lovecraft Country, 88 Names).

"Once I saw what the platform was capable of while producing Ruff's live reading event—and specifically that it was available to PC users who might not have a VR headset—I realized we could put something like this together," says Armstrong. He continued, "The COVID-19 lockdown was just beginning to go into effect and watching events like film festivals being cancelled and I thought now would be a good time to do this."

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Zargari, himself an award-winning filmmaker, came on board immediately after seeing the potential. "I've submitted my films to dozens of festivals and I know the process pretty well," he said, "With everyone on lockdown it felt like the right time and opportunity to organize one. And with 2D mode you don't need an Oculus or VR headset to screen the films, making the festival that much more inclusive."

The festival will be held on Saturday, June 6 from Noon-3:00pm Pacific time on the AltspaceVR platform and will include two hours of films along with one hour for a Q&A session with filmmakers. Once the submission deadline has ended and the selection committee finalizes the schedule, the program will be posted on the film festival's event page and through its Twitter account. You can register for the event at https://account.altvr.com/events/1463318763079205584. (NOTE: you do not need a VR headset to join the screening. All you need is to download the AltSpaceVR app on PC to access 2D mode.)

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Filmmakers can submit their films through FilmFreeway at https://filmfreeway.com/CyberShortsaVRFilmFestival. Entries are open to all independent short films under 15 minutes—nothing racist, sexist, or homophobic. International films are welcome but must be subtitled in English if they are in another language. Music videos are also welcome.

Three awards will be given: For Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. The esteemed jury consists of Emmy ® Recipient film director and producer Kelly Schwarze, Director of Operations for Film Inquiry, Kristy Strouse, and film critic Blake Collier.

Cyber Shorts is made possible with proceeds by Compendia Pictures and the volunteer staff of Rise Up Daily.