Canadian VR technology and content take centre stage in Cannes

Projects featured by Canada include Liquid Cinema,Time Machine VR and The Unknown Photographer

Toronto/Montreal, March 29, 2016—Three innovative Canadian virtual reality (VR) productions will share the spotlight at this year’s MIPTV, the world’s leading television and digital content market, taking place in Cannes between April 4 and 7. Thanks to an initiative spearheaded by the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Telefilm Canada, Canadian VR producers will have the opportunity to share their expertise and showcase their quality productions to over 10,000 international media industry leaders.

“Canadian companies are at the forefront of digital media innovation. Thanks to the reputation of Canadian digital media content, the expertise acquired by producers, and a funding ecosystem that supports innovation and creative storytelling, Canada is positioned to benefit enormously from the growing global market in VR,” says Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “Showcasing the quality of fully immersive productions and VR technology coming out of Canada at events such as MIPTV is key in helping Canadian producers grab a considerable share of this high-growth market.”

”We’re seeing nearly boundless applications for Canadian VR, from technology that will impact the way we experience content to fully immersive games that take us back millions of years, to cultural VR applications showcasing priceless national heritage; these projects exemplify Canada’s position in the global VR market as a thought leader and innovator,” says Carolle Brabant, Executive Director at Telefilm Canada.

The rise of VR
Since Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus in 2014, the VR landscape has truly taken off. Today, eight of the Fortune Top 10 technology giants are in the VR business, with several other tech trailblazers investing in the technology to get ahead of the market. According to a study published by the Quebec Film and Television Council in February 2016, the global market for VR is expected to reach US$30 billion by 2020, primarily driven by the proliferation of various uses for VR technology and content. From entertainment to healthcare, through education and industrial applications, new ways of using VR are constantly being developed. 

Content producers in Canada are turning to VR projects as a way to create experiences that push the limits of art and technology. Offering immersive VR content from new and unexplored perspectives, VR content creators have literally widened and deepened our horizons when consuming this type of media.

As part of a session within MIPTV Digital Fronts, the CMF and Telefilm will feature the following three projects:
Liquid Cinema (Toronto): Developed by Deep Inc., this software has the potential to revolutionize the film industry by transforming users’ experience; going to the movies becomes going into the movies. VR triggers responses from our brains that are as visceral as those we have in real life and Liquid Cinema allows content producers to recreate experiences and tell stories that make users feel like they are part of the story. It’s a radically new way of creating content.

Time Machine VR (Montreal): At an intersection in which Canadian content continues to successfully position itself, this project by Minority Media is the perfect convergence between the gaming world and filmmaking world. Part film, part game, but fully immersive, this time-travel experience allows players to dive into and explore the primordial sea, scanning “scientifically-sound” creatures from a bygone era.

The Unknown Photographer (Montreal): A production that brings the First World War back to the forefront of our collective memory through a dreamlike journey into the fragments of a war photographer’s memory. From a perspective that only an immersive experience could provide, this is a vivid recreation of the war through monumental, life-sized photographs. Carefully rendered by Montreal’s Turbulent in association with the National Film Board of Canada’s Montreal studios, the photographs found in an abandoned country house take us through a voyage into the chaotic war memories of a photographer whose fate will forever be unknown. Through its fluidity, this experience allows users to relive history and immerse themselves in the various aspects of a war that changed the world.

Alongside the three featured projects, the CMF and Telefilm will exhibit an additional three Canadian VR productions at the MIPTV Canada Pavilion: Infiltration by Montreal’s Urbania Studio; Nomads: Sea Gypsies by Montreal’s Felix & Paul Studios; and Cardboard Crash by the NFB’s Vancouver Digital Studios.

For more information on Canada’s presence at MIPTV, please visit canada-miptv2016.ca.

About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca. 

About Telefilm Canada—Inspired by talent. Viewed everywhere.
Created in 1967, Telefilm is dedicated to the cultural, commercial and industrial success of Canada’s audiovisual industry. Through its various funding and promotion programs, Telefilm supports dynamic companies and creative talent here at home and around the world. Telefilm also makes recommendations regarding the certification of audiovisual treaty coproductions to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund and the Talent Fund, a private donation initiative. Visit telefilm.ca and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/telefilm_canada and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/telefilmcanada.

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Media enquiries:
Douglas Chow, Head of Public Relations, Telefilm Canada
(514) 283-0838 ext. 2048 or 1-800-567-0890
douglas.chow@telefilm.ca

André Ferreira, Communications Manager, Canada Media Fund
(416) 554-2768
aferreira@cmf-fmc.ca

Images (from top to bottom): Liquid Cinema, Time Machine VR, The Unknown Photographer