The 2023 Joburg Film Festival is exploring the Virtual Reality Experience, showcasing four VR films, two of which are from South Africa

Africa is synonymous for overcoming technological barriers, surpassing developed countries with our innovative solutions. “We lead in property technology, we’re drawing massive investment in fintech and medtech solutions developed on the continent are being rolled out across the world”.

Virtual Reality (VR) is thriving in Africa, consider the “gaming healthcare, mining, advertising and property industries and is being explored as a tool in education”. The tech industry is constantly evolving which is great as it will enable African filmmakers to simply progress into VR production, essentially creating a value chain. Consider this an opportunity for African storytellers to be innovative and overcome limitations on their own terms, to merge VR with their “compelling stories and storytelling methods to position ourselves as leaders in its use. The VR offers filmmakers the opportunity to make films in new ways, since immersion is a given. Harnessing the tech effectively will help develop the African storytelling narrative, giving our filmmakers ownership over both production and consumption and ensuring that our stories are told, our way”.

The cost to produce and view VR tech films has  quickly declined, enabling African filmmakers the opportunity to adopt it. VR tech “opens up immersive content consumption opportunities for anyone who has a headset and a compatible mobile phone – reducing filmmakers’ reliance on expensive cinema set-ups and the cost of encoding films to operate on the tech”. Filmmakers and producers should consider the significant positive financial implications that come with delivering films directly to users without an intermediary.

“The ability to use the same platforms and distribution methods levels the international filmmaking playing field, going some way toward levelling financial obstacles and giving the heart of filmmaking – the power of the story – a chance to shine. Since storytelling has been at the heart of African culture since the continent birthed the human race, we have a chance to lead by combining the available tech and our skills as storytellers”.

Four VR films are being showcased at 2023 JFF  – two from South Africa and one from US and Taiwan, as part of the exploring VR Experience:

Azibuye – The Occupation (South Africa) is a VR / 360 degree which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2020.

Container (South Africa) makes visible the “invisiblised” bodies enabling our consumer society, confronting slavery through an ever-transforming shipping container, the past becomes the present, the invisible become visible.

Meta’s The Soloist is a ground-breaking two part series following mountaineer Alex Honnold’s soloing adventures through the US and into the Alps.

The Man Who Couldn’t Leave integrates the stories of numerous political victims of Taiwan’s ‘White Terror’, told through the form of an undelivered family letter.