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IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY TAKES ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT THE 2024 VENICE FILM FESTIVAL IN IMMERSIVE
The mixed reality experience created by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy and narrated by Tilda Swinton world premiered in the 2024 Venice Immersive Program at the 81st Venice International Film Festival
Created and produced by Anagram, co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions
Image Credit: Anagram
VENICE, IT (September 9, 2024) – The Venice Film Festival announced Saturday that Impulse: Playing with Reality, directed by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy, created and produced by Anagram, supported by Meta VR for Good and co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions, has been awarded the prize for Achievement as part of the 2024 Venice Immersive Program.
Impulse: Playing with Reality is an interactive mixed reality documentary that explores ADHD and how you make sense of the world around you, told through the stories of four people coming to terms with the decisions which have chartered their lives.
Actor Tilda Swinton narrates the experience. This is Swinton’s second consecutive time narrating for Anagram's mental health collection. She previously narrated Goliath, which explored one man’s experience of psychosis and had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in 2021. Goliath went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work at the 78th Venice International Film Festival (2021) and be nominated for the News & Documentary Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interactive Media Innovation category (2022).
“Impulse is meant to create a safe space to explore the curiosity about the way the brain works for someone with ADHD. Through immersive storytelling we are able to share these stories to help ourselves better understand the hidden corners of our consciousness. We have been so lucky to have Tilda Swinton’s continued support through her narration of the first two chapters in the Playing with Reality collection,” said Co-creators May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy. “We are so grateful to the talented team behind this project as well as partners Meta, Agog, France Télévisions and CNC, and our co-producers Floréal. Without their tireless efforts none of this would be possible."
The Playing with Reality collection uses a documentary storytelling approach to combine rigorous research with compelling narratives around mental health conditions. The employment of mixed reality plays with the audience’s relationship between the familiar and new, fostering a deeper understanding of mental health conditions. Impulse: Playing with Reality is a groundbreaking experience that harnesses the unique capabilities of immersive entertainment and Meta’s mixed-reality (MR) technology to promote and amplify awareness and empathy around ADHD.
“Anagram’s collaboration with leading global neuroscientists, psychologists, and Meta’s Wellbeing team to inform the experience design is a testament to Anagram’s care and respect for mental health and ADHD,” said Ryan Genji Thomas, Producer at Meta. “ Meta is a proud supporter of Impulse and this team, and we’re excited to finally share this cutting-edge experience with the public."
SYNOPSIS
What makes ideas real?
Exploring the extreme side of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Impulse brings together sharp-witted gameplay and dramatic first-hand accounts of people whose intense emotions lead them to a life at the edge. Leanne turns her world into a game to escape boredom. Omar’s chaotic mind focuses on mastermining risky heists. Errol creates a madcap persona to get respect. And Tara is on the brink - of giving up.
Their stories are brought home through mixed reality. Attempting to follow a train of thought, the stuff in your room sets off a chain reaction leading to all sorts of mayhem. Shadows on your walls become portals into labyrinthine worlds. Words spiral out into alternative meanings and possibilities.
Highlighting the inner life of ADHD, and the often-dismissed experience of the quiet girls, Impulse focuses on the thrill of acting without thinking and the power of uncovering your own patterns.
CREDITS
Impulse: Playing with Reality is a new work by Anagram, co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions.
Impulse has been supported by Meta VR for Good, France Télévisions, CNC, Agog, City of Paris, and Unity Charitable Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation. Impulse was presented at the 2023 Venice Gap-Financing Market and Tribeca Creators Market.
ABOUT ANAGRAM
ANAGRAM is an award-winning creative studio specializing in interactive storytelling and immersive experience design that challenges the status quo. Experimenting at the edges of technology, our mission is to make thought-provoking and playful experiences that bring profound new perspectives.
We use physical and interactive storytelling across a number of contexts to challenge, inspire and influence the cultural discourse around present social and political issues.
Emmy-nominated and winners of the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Work at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival. Anagram has previously been awarded the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Award, the 2019 Sandbox Immersive Art Award, part of the Best VR in 2019 at the Venice International Film Festival.
weareanagram.co.uk
@weareanagram
ABOUT FLOREAL
Founded in 2014, Floréal, based between Paris and Montreal and led by Avi Amar alongside producer Katayoun Dibamehr, is committed to discovering, supporting and sustaining talents with a singular gaze and solid artistic ambitions, both in cinema and immersive formats (XR). Since its creation, Floréal has produced or co-produced several works, including the highly acclaimed Minimum Mass (Cristal at Annecy 2020), The Hangman at Home (Grand Jury Prize at Venice 2020 and The Masque d'or at NewImages 2021), Goliath: Playing with Reality (Grand Jury Prize at Venice in 2021 and nominated for an Emmy Award - News & Documentary Award in 2022), Conann (Cannes - Directors' Fortnight in 2023) and Maya : The Birth of a Superhero (Festival de Cannes – Immersive Competition in 2024).
www.floreal.io
ABOUT META VR FOR GOOD
Meta VR for Good is a program designed to fund and foster immersive creators and impact innovators through socially impactful narrative experiences that cultivate awareness and empathy.
Meta VR for Good has been the primary supporter of the Playing with Reality collection to date, supporting the award-winning Goliath (2021) and Impulse (2024).
https://about.meta.com/uk/community/vr-for-good/
ABOUT FRANCE TÉLÉVISIONS
France Télévisions is the leading French broadcasting group. France Télévisions’ places the audience at the heart of its decision making. Its values are independence, universality, innovation, innovation, and the promotion of diversity, to accurately reflect today’s ever-changing society.
Created in 2020, the StoryLab is France Télévisions' label for immersive contents and innovative storytelling. Using various genres (documentary, animation, fiction...), formats and XR technologies, always interactive and immersive, the StoryLab co-productions speak to issues that shape our society by offering new perspectives to the audience by telling stories that matter.
https://www.francetvlab.fr/en
Impulse: Playing with Reality is an interactive mixed reality documentary that explores ADHD and how you make sense of the world around you, told through the stories of four people coming to terms with the decisions which have chartered their lives.
Actor Tilda Swinton narrates the experience. This is Swinton’s second consecutive time narrating for Anagram's mental health collection. She previously narrated Goliath, which explored one man’s experience of psychosis and had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in 2021. Goliath went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work at the 78th Venice International Film Festival (2021) and be nominated for the News & Documentary Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interactive Media Innovation category (2022).
“Impulse is meant to create a safe space to explore the curiosity about the way the brain works for someone with ADHD. Through immersive storytelling we are able to share these stories to help ourselves better understand the hidden corners of our consciousness. We have been so lucky to have Tilda Swinton’s continued support through her narration of the first two chapters in the Playing with Reality collection,” said Co-creators May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy. “We are so grateful to the talented team behind this project as well as partners Meta, Agog, France Télévisions and CNC, and our co-producers Floréal. Without their tireless efforts none of this would be possible."
The Playing with Reality collection uses a documentary storytelling approach to combine rigorous research with compelling narratives around mental health conditions. The employment of mixed reality plays with the audience’s relationship between the familiar and new, fostering a deeper understanding of mental health conditions. Impulse: Playing with Reality is a groundbreaking experience that harnesses the unique capabilities of immersive entertainment and Meta’s mixed-reality (MR) technology to promote and amplify awareness and empathy around ADHD.
“Anagram’s collaboration with leading global neuroscientists, psychologists, and Meta’s Wellbeing team to inform the experience design is a testament to Anagram’s care and respect for mental health and ADHD,” said Ryan Genji Thomas, Producer at Meta. “ Meta is a proud supporter of Impulse and this team, and we’re excited to finally share this cutting-edge experience with the public."
SYNOPSIS
What makes ideas real?
Exploring the extreme side of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Impulse brings together sharp-witted gameplay and dramatic first-hand accounts of people whose intense emotions lead them to a life at the edge. Leanne turns her world into a game to escape boredom. Omar’s chaotic mind focuses on mastermining risky heists. Errol creates a madcap persona to get respect. And Tara is on the brink - of giving up.
Their stories are brought home through mixed reality. Attempting to follow a train of thought, the stuff in your room sets off a chain reaction leading to all sorts of mayhem. Shadows on your walls become portals into labyrinthine worlds. Words spiral out into alternative meanings and possibilities.
Highlighting the inner life of ADHD, and the often-dismissed experience of the quiet girls, Impulse focuses on the thrill of acting without thinking and the power of uncovering your own patterns.
CREDITS
Impulse: Playing with Reality is a new work by Anagram, co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions.
Impulse has been supported by Meta VR for Good, France Télévisions, CNC, Agog, City of Paris, and Unity Charitable Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation. Impulse was presented at the 2023 Venice Gap-Financing Market and Tribeca Creators Market.
ABOUT ANAGRAM
ANAGRAM is an award-winning creative studio specializing in interactive storytelling and immersive experience design that challenges the status quo. Experimenting at the edges of technology, our mission is to make thought-provoking and playful experiences that bring profound new perspectives.
We use physical and interactive storytelling across a number of contexts to challenge, inspire and influence the cultural discourse around present social and political issues.
Emmy-nominated and winners of the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Work at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival. Anagram has previously been awarded the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Award, the 2019 Sandbox Immersive Art Award, part of the Best VR in 2019 at the Venice International Film Festival.
weareanagram.co.uk
@weareanagram
ABOUT FLOREAL
Founded in 2014, Floréal, based between Paris and Montreal and led by Avi Amar alongside producer Katayoun Dibamehr, is committed to discovering, supporting and sustaining talents with a singular gaze and solid artistic ambitions, both in cinema and immersive formats (XR). Since its creation, Floréal has produced or co-produced several works, including the highly acclaimed Minimum Mass (Cristal at Annecy 2020), The Hangman at Home (Grand Jury Prize at Venice 2020 and The Masque d'or at NewImages 2021), Goliath: Playing with Reality (Grand Jury Prize at Venice in 2021 and nominated for an Emmy Award - News & Documentary Award in 2022), Conann (Cannes - Directors' Fortnight in 2023) and Maya : The Birth of a Superhero (Festival de Cannes – Immersive Competition in 2024).
www.floreal.io
ABOUT META VR FOR GOOD
Meta VR for Good is a program designed to fund and foster immersive creators and impact innovators through socially impactful narrative experiences that cultivate awareness and empathy.
Meta VR for Good has been the primary supporter of the Playing with Reality collection to date, supporting the award-winning Goliath (2021) and Impulse (2024).
https://about.meta.com/uk/community/vr-for-good/
ABOUT FRANCE TÉLÉVISIONS
France Télévisions is the leading French broadcasting group. France Télévisions’ places the audience at the heart of its decision making. Its values are independence, universality, innovation, innovation, and the promotion of diversity, to accurately reflect today’s ever-changing society.
Created in 2020, the StoryLab is France Télévisions' label for immersive contents and innovative storytelling. Using various genres (documentary, animation, fiction...), formats and XR technologies, always interactive and immersive, the StoryLab co-productions speak to issues that shape our society by offering new perspectives to the audience by telling stories that matter.
https://www.francetvlab.fr/en
