LFF EXPANDED
2021 IMMERSIVE ART AND XR
PROGRAMME:
A Life in
Pieces: The Diary and
Letters of Stanley Hayami
United States
Lead Artists:
Nonny de la Peña, Sharon
Yamato
This
cutting-edge media project
brings to life the wartime
diary of Stanley Hayami, a
Japanese-American
teenager who,
during the Second World War,
was forced into captivity
with his family and many
other American citizens of
Japanese descent at the
Heart Mountain Relocation
Center in Wyoming. Viewers
enter the rugged living
conditions where the Hayami
family lived as Stanley
describes with poignant
optimism the difficult
reality he faces being
imprisoned behind barbed
wire. Through virtual
reality technology, the
teenager’s writings and
drawings come to life
through live-action
characters, 3D animation and
photogrammetry of actual
surroundings.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 18
minutes
Notes:
Interactive VR,
International Premiere
Adult
Children
United
Kingdom
Lead Artists:
Ella Hickson, Sacha Wares,
Key Collaborator: ScanLAB
Projects
Set during
lockdown and staged in a
scanned replica of the
Donmar Warehouse auditorium,
this poignant short 360 film
invites us to explore the
ways in which our actions
are connected even when we
are apart. Adult
Children is
a unique collaboration
between leading theatre
artists and groundbreaking
XR creatives—Playwright Ella
Hickson, XR/theatre director
Sacha Wares and digital
innovators ScanLAB
Projects—based on their
jointly-created new form of
360 theatre that explores
the psychogeography of
solitude, probes the nuances
of social responsibility and
evokes the feelings of loss
that characterise the Covid
era for us all.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 16
minutes
Notes: World
Premiere
Atomic /
Ghost in the Atom
Finland,
Latvia
Lead Artists:
Felicia Honkasalo, Akuliina
Niemi, Masi Tiitta
This
astonishing immersive
installation by Finnish
Artists’ collective
Honkasalo/Niemi/Tiitta
comprises three different
artworks, each contemplating
the history and legacy of
nuclear waste. It’s an
allegory of the absurdity of
humanity’s engagement with
nuclear power, comprising of
a 360-degree film, 2D video
installation and a physical
sculpture. In this piece, we
are presented with footage
of radioactive waste being
deposited in labyrinthine
tunnels deep underground.
The film shows how the
post-WWII US government
employed effective
propaganda to downplay the
devastating power of the
toxic material while also
demonstrating how the
thermal warmth of nuclear
power plants is utilised in
the production of grapes for
winemaking. Original film
footage of the nuclear waste
repository in Onkalo,
Finland is used by the
artists to celebrate what
they describe as ‘the
worlds’ longest funeral’.
This triptych has been newly
edited for an exclusive
world premiere at LFF
Expanded.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 12
minutes
Notes: World
Premiere
Captured
Finland
Lead Artist:
Hanna Haaslahti
In this
participatory experience,
your virtual likeness is
digitally recreated by means
of a volumetric photo of
your face and unclasped into
an unsettling march by a
virtual crowd. Your avatar
will take on different roles
in an AI-generated virtual
simulation where individual
freedom is taken over by
collective instincts,
leaving you with zero agency
to control your own actions.
Which role will you take on?
The bully, the target or the
bystander? And what does it
say about your primal
instincts in watching
aggressive social behaviour?
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street
Duration:
ongoing
Notes:
International Premiere
Container
South Africa
Lead Artists:
Meghna Singh, Simon Wood
Container ,
a 180-degree film from South
Africa, makes us aware of
the lives of the invisible
millions that continue to be
enslaved through modern-day
feudalism. How would you
define slavery? A lack of
freedom, unbearable working
conditions, social
inequality and moral
injustice? This film takes
us on a journey through the
myriad forms of economic
slavery, via the spread of
capitalism around the world,
which has increased the
hunger for cheap goods and
led to mega cities filled
with ‘invisible’ workers
forced into economic and
domestic servitude.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 16
minutes
Notes: UK
Premiere
Eternal
Return
United
Kingdom, Sweden
Key
Collaborators: The Memor,
ScanLAB Projects, and
Lundahl & Seitl
Eternal
Return is
a choreographed mixed
reality exhibition exploring
the future of memory. The
immersive performance
unfolds within a visually
striking exhibition space
conceived by ScanLAB
Projects and artists
Christer Lundahl and Martina
Seitl. Designed to appeal to
visitors with or without
headsets, the staging gives
a fragmented impression of
the hidden virtual space. On
entering the experience, you
will be guided by a
performer to explore a
memory archive containing
moments from Earth’s deep
past and its post-Anthropocene
future. This visual and
audio experience is
complemented by the
performer's physical and
digital interaction within
the work. In its entirety,
this work explores the
collective memory and
experiences we pass on
through generations: what to
fear, what to value, how to
live, how to care for the
world of tomorrow.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
live performance
Duration: 20
minutes
Notes: UK
Premiere
Eulogy
United
Kingdom
Lead Artists:
Darkfield
What if you
could only listen, feel and
touch? Your sensual
perception would rapidly
become more intense, your
inner vision would take
control of your imagination,
and a new reality would
form, defined by the images
you conjure up. Acclaimed
UK-based company Darkfield
has mastered this sensual
experience like no other,
most recently with Eulogy, which
unfolds in and around a
labyrinthine, dreamlike
hotel imagined by its
audience as they’re
enveloped in complete
darkness. Be sure not to
miss this outstanding piece
of visionary storytelling
during its exclusive run in
London.
Presentation
Location: Theatre Square /
Southbank
Duration; 35
minutes
Notes: World
Premiere, separately
ticketed
Fauna
France
Lead Artists:
Adrien M, Claire B x Brest
Brest Brest
Fauna is
a series of ten large-format
posters with a custom-built
augmented reality
application that can be
discovered via your
smartphone. Go on a treasure
hunt around town and explore
the imaginative worlds that
hide behind the graphic
prints. Fantastic animals
roaming in beautiful
landscapes come to life
using the latest Augmented
Reality technology, while
subtle soundscapes reveal
imaginary wildlife hiding
behind city walls. The
public art installation
offers an opportunity to
interact with urban
surroundings in a unique and
exciting way.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street
Duration:
15-30 minutes
Notes: UK
Premiere, free entrance
Future Rites
United
Kingdom
Lead Artists:
Alexander Whitley Dance
Company
Ever dreamed
of actively participating
alongside professional
dancers in a choreographed
performance? Now is your
chance. Acclaimed
choreographer Alexander
Whitley, director Sandra
Rodriguez and Canada’s
Normal Studio have
collaborated on this VR
dance performance, which is
based on Igor Stravinsky’s
ground-breaking ballet The
Rite of Spring .
It employs live
motion-capture and real-time
animation to create a
collective experience in
which dancers and members of
the audience interact with
each other. As part of our
free LFF Expanded programme,
we are showcasing a
work-in-progress version of
this exciting performance
during the last weekend of
the Festival. Be sure to
sign up early to secure a
space for this outstanding
new take on one of the most
controversial works of the
20 th century.
Presentation
Location: Rambert Studio,
13-14 October
Duration: 11
minutes
Notes:
Co-Commissioned by BFI
London Film Festival – LFF
Expanded, World Premiere of
work in progress, Free
entrance/LFF Free,
Registration required
Inhibition
United
Kingdom
Lead Artists:
Zoe Diakaki, Marina Eleni
Mersiadou
Inspired by
A. B. Casares’ novel The
Invention of Morel, Inhibition is
an immersive multi-user
experience at the
intersections of
performance, architecture
and 3D-design. Find yourself
challenged to rethink your
subjective reality as you
and two other audience
members embark on a quest
around an imaginary island.
This performative experience
unfolds in three scenes,
following the journey of the
novel’s main protagonist,
exploring how scenic
installation and spatial
performance can challenge
the perception of audiences
and performers by the user.
LFF Expanded showcases this
participatory live
experience as an exclusive
world premiere.
Presentation
location: 26 Leake Street
Duration: 10
minutes
Notes:
interactive VR, World
Premiere
Laika
UK
Lead Artists:
Asif Kapadia, Nick Abadzis
Overnight, an
unwanted and unloved stray
from the streets of Moscow,
Laika, became the first
living creature sent by
humans into space and the
most famous dog in the
world. Adapted from Nick
Abadzis’ eponymous 2007
graphic novel, Laika is
a tragic tale of love, deep
humanity and a mission that
heralded a new age of
information, technology and
the race for military
supremacy. This animated VR
film by Academy Award, BAFTA
and Grammy-winning director
Asif Kapadia ( Amy , Senna , The
Warrior )
takes you on Laika’s
heart-breaking journey while
exposing the dog’s pivotal
role in late 20 th-century
world history.
Presentation
location: BFI Southbank, 26
Leake Street, The Expanse
Duration: 15
mins.
Notes: World
Premiere, Presented by BFI
London Film Festival and
StoryFutures Academy
Liminal Lands
France, U.S.
Lead Artist:
Jakob Kudsk Steensen
The
extraordinary landscape of
the Camargue, in the South
of France, provides the
backdrop to the imaginative
journey taken in Liminal
Lands commissioned
by Luma Foundation, a new
museum in Arles, and
conceived by Steensen during
an extensive residency.
Steensen re-envisions
complex shapes and forms as
a transitional zone where
fundamental energies of sun,
wind, water and bacteria
determine the delicate
balance of life in one of
the most archaic landscapes
in Western Europe. Every
sound, form and texture in
these virtual environments
has been digitized with
3D-scanners and audio
recordings, then crafted
into the artist’s
distinctive visual style. As
both sound and vision
respond to audience members’
motion, technology becomes a
sensory tool for a
ritualistic environmental
experience.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street
Duration: 18
minutes
Notes:
Interactive VR, UK
Premiere
Missing
Pictures Episode 2: Tsai
Ming-liang
France
Lead Artists:
Clement Deneux, Kuan-Yuan
LAI
Missing
Pictures is
a VR documentary series that
gives some of the greatest
directors in the world a
chance to tell the story
they were never able to
bring to the screen.
Following on from Abel
Ferrara’s entry at last
year’s LFF Expanded – the
unforgettable Missing
Pictures: Birds of Prey –
this year we welcome
Taiwanese visionary Tsai
Ming-Liang, whose
wide-ranging body of work
includes The
River , The
Wayward Cloud , Journey
to the West and Days (LFF
2020). His untold story
draws upon memories of his
childhood. Hand-drawn 3D
visuals become the backdrop
for the filmmakers’ very
personal narrative, a story
about love, loss and the
power of imagination.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 10
minutes
Notes:
Interactive VR, UK
Premiere
Museum Of
Austerity
United
Kingdom
Lead Artists:
Sacha Wares, John Pring
Museum of
Austerity is
a mixed reality exhibition
that preserves memories of
public and private events
from the austerity era. Room
1 of the exhibition,
previewing at LFF, records
personal stories of disabled
benefit claimants who died
between 2010 - 2020.
Combining verbal testimony,
original music, and
groundbreaking volumetric
capture, this exhibition
implores audiences to
contemplate the human impact
of austerity. Co-produced by
English Touring Theatre, the
National Theatre Immersive
Storytelling Studio and
Trial & Error, this powerful
installation combines the
skills of theatre/XR
director Sacha Wares with
the in-depth knowledge of
John Pring, editor of
Disability News Service.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street
Duration: 30
minutes
Notes:
Co-Commissioned by BFI
London Film Festival,
Premier Preview of
Work-in-Progress, Free,
Registration required
Noah’s Raft
Nigeria
Lead Artists:
Joel Kachi Benson, Tal
Michael Haring
‘No person
shall be denied the right to
education.’ This privilege
has been declared a human
right by the United Nations,
but has still not become a
reality for many children
around the world. For the
children of Makoko, a
floating slum on the
outskirts of Lagos,
education is barely a
presence in their lives.
They are simply raised to
help their parents and
schooling is often perceived
as a threat to the
community’s traditions. But
Noah Shemede, a committed
education worker, follows
his dream and sets up a
floating primary school with
the mission to change his
community through education.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 12
minutes
Notes: UK
Premiere
Only
Expansion
United
Kingdom
Lead Artist:
Duncan Speakman
As sea levels
rise and wildfires burn, Only
Expansion remixes
the sound of the city around
you to conjure up a sonic
portrait of how your life
might change in the future.
A beautifully produced
guidebook prompts you to
explore London’s Southbank;
you can choose your own
route as customized
headphones capture and
manipulate the sounds that
surround you. Field
recordings of climate
collapse bleed into this
environment – you might hear
your city as it sinks
beneath waves or is battered
by desert winds. A powerful
and impressionistic
reflection on what it means
to live on a planet in
crisis, Only
Expansion Connects the
here to the elsewhere,
letting you experience our
troubled environment through
sound.
Presentation
Location: BFI Southbank
Duration: 40
minutes
Samsara
Taiwan
Lead Artist:
Hsin-Chien Huang
Taiwanese
artist and filmmaker
Hsin-Chien Huang’s latest
immersive project explores
the outer limits of time,
space and the myriad forms
of life. In a
not-too-distant future, the
Earth’s environment has been
destroyed by humans, its
final extinction the result
of nuclear conflict. A few
surviving species find a new
home in space and
re-engineer their bodies to
evolve into a new spiritual
form. The artist touches
upon existential themes such
as the fluidity of time,
reincarnation and the
energising power of people’s
creative will.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 21
minutes
Notes:
Interactive VR, UK
Premiere
Virtually
There
United
Kingdom
Lead Artist:
Leon Oldstrong
Leon
Oldstrong’s first VR film
shines a light on a violent
knife crime from multiple
perspectives in an attempt
to empathise with all
parties involved. Knife
crimes have increased in the
UK by 80% since 2014 and are
at the highest number since
comparable data began to be
collected. One in four
victims are men aged 18-24
and 25% of victims are
black. Oldstrong takes the
humans behind these
statistics as a starting
point for his first
endeavour into VR
filmmaking, building a
foundation for a great
emotional understanding of
the devastating impact of
knife crime amongst young
people.
Presentation
Location: 26 Leake Street,
The Expanse
Duration: 23
minutes
Notes: UK
Premiere
For more
information about the 65th
BFI London Film Festival
taking place Wednesday
6th-Sunday 17th October
2021, please visit www.bfi.org.uk/lff .