VR Free
Persə nel VR
By Milad Tangshir
Italia, 2019, 15’
From Wednesday, Oct. 5 to Saturday, Oct. 8, Walter Binni Hall, Via delle Prome (Porta Sole) from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
A Project by: Associazione Museo Nazionale del Cinema
Written & Directed by: Milad Tangshir
Produced by: Valentina Noya
With: Michele Romano, Albert Asllanaj, Cristian De Bonis, Ogert Rakipais and Michele Bono
Executive Producers: Daniel Coffaro
VR Cinematography & Post: Stefano Sburlati
Sound Recording & Design: Vito Martinelli
Camera Assistant: Marta Lombardelli
Timelapse by: William Briscoe
SYNOPSIS
VR Free explores the nature of incarceration spaces by portraying slices of life inside a prison in Turin, Italy. The film also captures the reaction of several inmates during brief encounters with immersive videos of life outside of prison.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
VR Free is an attempt to use a new medium to bring the hidden world of prison in front of citizens’ eye. It’s a call to participate in the urgent discussion about our detention spaces. Virtual reality is a powerful tool in dealing with the concept of space. In VR Free, we have tried to use this potential in an expressive and dramatic manner inside a world which is per se full of harsh and aggressive spaces.
There is conclusive research that indicates that VR not only aids memory recall but it can also create false memories. VR Free explores the proposition of what it means to give VR headsets to prisoners in an Italian prison, enabling them to virtually participate in a measure of spatial respite beyond their prison walls and thereby compensating for what some prisoners miss the most: new memories.
Milad Tangshir
Milad Tangshir was born in 1983 in Tehran, Iran. He worked for 8 years as a musician for the Iranian rock band Ahoora. In 2011, he moved to Italy and started his studies in Cinema at Turin University. Since 2012, he has made some shorts films and video essays which have had numerous screenings at film festivals and have received many awards. His first feature film Star Stuff premiered in late 2019 at Torino Film Festival. VR Free is his first experience in virtual reality.
FILMOGRAPHY
Endlessly (2012)
The Celebration (2014)
Wrinkles of Earth (2015)
Interplay (2015)
Displaced (2016)
13 Seconds (2018)
VR Free (2019)
Star Stuff (2019)