goEast – Festival of central and eastern European film officially opened an exhibition of the eight nominees of the Open Frame Award on Thursday, April 21 at Museum Wiesbaden. The exhibition is fully dedicated to VR/360 projects from central and eastern Europe as well as the Rhine-Main region.
One week in advance to the festival the Open Frame Award VR exhibition started in one of the most recognizable cinema venues of Germany: Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt, where it was experienced by over 600 visitors in six days.
A three-member jury, consisting of Julia Leeb (filmmaker, VR expert and photographer from Munich), Philipp Mehler (Producer of Lichter Film Festival VR program) and Simon Ofenloch (film editor ARTE/ARTE fiction on ZDF) will determine the winner of the award, which is endowed with 5,000 euros in prize money presented by the BHF BANK Foundation and the Adolf- and Luisa Haeuser Foundation. The Open Frame Award is part of the East-West Talent Lab, sponsored by Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhein Main.
The selection includes four interactive projects and four spherical 360 films made in absolutely different genres and techniques. One of the goals of the award is to acquaint visitors with the diversity of the technical and creative approaches as well as to present the works from central and eastern European countries to a broader audience. goEast partnered with Berlin based company INVR as well as with Samsung Germany to deliver the unique VR experience-
Curator of the Award Georgy Molodtsov: „For the most of the visitors in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden it was the first time they tried VR. That's important that this experience was about creative use of the new technology usally recognised for its gaming and bussiness application.“ Major film festivals like Cannes, Berlinale, Sundance and others are adding VR to their programs. goEast with its Open Frame Award is one of the few events that evaluates and awards creative VR projects.
With this fresh start of Open Frame Award, known for its interest in experimental forms, there is a big hope to make goEast film festival a launching pad for central and eastern European VR creators and help them get recognition in the international market.
The exhibition is still on display April 22nd to 25th during regular working hours of Museum Wiesbaden (Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2)
Find more information about the OFA on https://www.filmfestival-goeast.de/de/sektionen/Open%20Frame%20Award
