FESTIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES CELEBRATES 5 YEARS
Featuring Dozens of Canadian and World Premieres Available For 3 Days Only
Toronto, ON – The fifth annual Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS) is set for Sept.13-15 (the final weekend of TIFF) and will showcase a curated selection of experiences from around the world powered by Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, projection-mapping, and haptic devices.
Since 2015, FIVARS has curated over 150 unforgettable stories powered by immersive media, including many Canadian and world premieres, that many will not have the opportunity to otherwise experience.
This year’s final selections present a wide spectrum of themes and settings; from a 5.2k 3D documentary climbing to the top of Mount Everest to plunging into Manet’s famous painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, from Hollywood Rooftop, a new experimental melodrama by director Brett Leonard (Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity), to Pneumo Hacker, a hand-made cyberpunk piece from Taiwan that addresses a real and current concern for a world where natural resources are overexploited.
The Toronto event will host local and international selections demonstrating that immersive media is evolving in dozens of countries simultaneously.
“More than just a VR film festival,” says FIVARS Founder and Executive Director, Keram Malicki- Sánchez, “FIVARS has been a launchpad, an international forum, a discovery engine and a community builder for anyone interested in exploring how we can share stories in the dimensional, spatialized media of tomorrow. More than ever, now is the time to empower these diverse, independent spirits pushing the limits of revolutionary new media.”
FIVARS features new worlds and old, transgressive, sublime, awe-inspiring, imagined and undiscovered, ancient and real-time experiences, all ready for you to explore!
Keram Malicki- Sánchez (FIVARS Executive Director) is available for interviews
FIVARS Information
Where: Toronto Media Arts Centre (32 Lisgar St.)
When: Sept. 13-15, 12 pm – 9 pm
Tickets: Timed entry and walk-ups (if available), $42 (plus tax)
For more information, visit http://fivars.net or follow @fivarstories #FIVARS2019 on social
About FIVARS
FIVARS is a presentation of VRTO. The annual event seeks to change how the film industry and the content consuming public view what’s possible with VR technology. It is organized by Executive Director and Founder Keram Malicki-Sanchez. FIVARS is produced by VRTO (Virtual Reality, Toronto) and Constant Change Media Group Inc.
