Manic VR
ABOUT
Explore the exuberant and chaotic worlds of an imagination haunted by bipolar disorder.Guided by the compelling voices of Felicia and François who, for the past 3 years, have used their sister’s voice mail as their personal diary, the user will embark on a journey to decipher the whirlwind of mania, psychosis and depression. Through room-scale interaction and 3D animation, unearth the destabilizing effects of bipolarity – delve into the heightening of senses and the untamed imagination that accompanies this complex and mysterious condition.
After completing her degree in filmmaking in Montreal, Kalina Bertin quickly realized that if she didn’t set out to understand the mental illness in her family it would destroy her. This process gave birth to her award-winning documentary film MANIC, which explores the legacy of bipolar disorder in her family. After premiering at Hot Docs in 2017, MANIC was nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards by the Canadian Academy of Film and Television and won an Iris Award in 2018. Her first virtual reality experience, ManicVR, premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2018 and went on to win the prestigious Ars Electronica Golden Nica in 2019. Highlighting the power of her voice within the industry, Kalina is a recipient of the Don Haig Award Pay It Forward Prize at Hot Docs and was nominated for the emerging filmmaker special prize at the 34th Gémeaux Awards. She has been a keynote speaker at the MIT Open Doc Lab, the Busan Int. Film Festival and the London Open City Doc Fest.
CREDITS
Nicolas Roy
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