Visual marketing animation studios, salamandra.uk, partnered with content production company, Electric Skies, to create Kindred, an animated Virtual Reality (VR) story of family and belonging. The outstanding creative production, directed by Bambou Kenneth, produced by StoryTrails creative, Tessa Ratuszynska, and animated by salamandra.uk’s Nicholas Francisco and Emma Rhodes, has been selected for Venice Immersive, the Virtual Reality line-up for Venezia 79 (2022).
The Virtual Reality section of the festival programme will feature some of the best VR and Extended Reality (XR) projects from across the world, and salamandra.uk’s Kindred is listed among 30 projects in competition for the golden lion. Venice was the first A-list festival to launch a competition for VR in 2017, and has since emerged as a leading showcase for XR filmmaking. The official selection will return as an in-person event to the Venice Immersive Island – on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio - a short distance from the Lido di Venezia, for the first time since 2019. The selection will be open to the press and industry accredited guests on August 31, and will then be open to the public and accredited visitors from September 1 – 10.
About The Project
Kindred is based on the remarkable true story of an aspirational parent called Syd, and their ground-breaking journey through the adoption process in the UK, experiencing first-hand highs and lows of a dream shared by so many others. After years of setbacks and rejections, Syd gets matched with a child, Ollie, and in the process helps redefine the meaning of family.
On discussing the project, salamandra.uk’s Emma Rhodes said:
“Working in VR is a really wonderful expansion on traditional storytelling, as it is so much more immersive - being able to tell stories through the environment around the viewer, rather that just a fixed viewpoint, and making them feel part of the story is a really rewarding approach. The story itself is such a valuable one that I felt strongly about telling and doing justice to, and working to bring that story to life in a visually impactful and different world was really rewarding.”
About salamandra.uk animation studios:
Salamandra.uk are multi-award-winning animation studios based in Eton, Dundee and San Francisco, and specialise primarily in animation for business, but also entertainment. As visual problem solvers, they convey complex messages memorably using animation on any platform. Their work has been recognised at awards and festivals the likes of the Moondance International Film Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, The Orlando Film Festival, The Drum Digital Awards, and the LA Indie Short Festival to name a few. With a passionate and agile team, they work on creative projects across over 18 industries, including but not limited to children’s book illustrations and in-game cinematics, to corporate explainers, training videos and immersive virtual experiences.
About the Venice Film Festival:
The 79th Venice International Film Festival is organised by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. It will take place at Venice Lido from 31 August to 10 September 2022. The Festival is officially recognised by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Association). The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution toward a better understanding of the history of cinema.