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Humanitarian Storytelling in VR

Join the creators, director, technical heads and producers of the upcoming humanitarian VR documentary ‘Meet The Soldier’ in an open conversation about all that VR has (had) to offer in the world of humanitarian film.

Next to the discussion, we have a number of humanitarian VR films ready to watch on a number of VR devices (and maybe you’ll even get a sneak preview of Meet The Soldier…).

Meet The Soldier

Meet The Soldier is a humanitarian VR documentary about bringing together two enemy tribal warriors in Karamoja, Uganda – in VR. Last August, the whole crew travelled to Karamoja, Uganda for production, and they’re ready to share their impressive (and sometimes insane) stories. Curious to learn what is it like to shoot a VR film in the most remote and illiterate area of East Africa? How to deal with all the **** you’ll walk into, from power cuts to mudslides on the road?

Power of empathy

The creative and the tech side are both represented, as Teddy Cherim (director) and Yori van Gerven (VR technician/director) will discuss the power of empathy in humanitarian stories. As experts argue, VR may eventually allow us to virtually walk in someone else’s shoes to the point where our brains may not be able to tell the difference between what’s reality and what’s a simulation – pure empathy. But as others warn, “empathy is not something that automatically happens when a user puts on a headset.” How does this relate to humanitarian filmmaking? Do such stories really feel stronger when the viewer gets immersed into a virtual environment?

Let’s unite and explore what the exciting future of humanitarian storytelling holds!

Planning

18:00 – 18:30: Introduction of guests and teaser of Meet The Soldier
18:30 – 19:30: Open discussion on ‘Humanitarian Storytelling in VR’
19:30 – 21:00: Open showcase Humanitarian VR films + drinks

Teddy Cherim is a film director, writer, creative and all-round, stand up, ‘wish you were here’ kinda guy. Teddy studied at the Metropolitan Film School in London, after which he returned to Amsterdam to make the feature film Sterke Verhalen, which he wrote and directed together with Kees van Nieuwkerk. In 2014 Teddy moved to Nairobi to become Creative Director at MIATV, a regional media conglomerate developing local high impact television programmes and documentaries. Since 2016, Teddy has been back in Amsterdam from where he has been working as a freelance writer, director and creative, shooting all over the world.

If you have any type of VR goggles yourself, do bring them!