TFV Talks to Jolinde den Haas

TFV: What is IFFR Pro immersive to you? What does this new form of media mean for the future?

The Pro Immersive program is a section of our coproduction market where we support immersive projects in different stages of development whether they be VR, XR, or AR. We get them a platform and help them find a path to production.

We started in 2016 by partnering up with VR days which is a B2B program. By connecting their more tech and VR network we diversified our output. 2017 is the first time we had immersive projects in Cinemart, the oldest coproduction market of its kind. Out of approximately 400 projects in development, we select 15-20 which we present to the industry and help them make their next steps. We see a lot more interest coming from our industry guests. The synergy we wanted to create was not immediately embraced, but now more and more it is.

My view is that immersive media will play a big part on how we experience film. It will only take up more space and be more present. People will have a device and it will be normal to experience a film like this casually.

TFV? Pro Immersive offers a new way to engage with traditional film forms, what kind of demographic are you seeking to reach? The younger generation of film fans? Or the traditional crowd who is perhaps interested in discovering what new technology has to offer?

The virtual reality in our program is a finished work. Here we have a new target group with a new, younger audience. However, we see interest coming in from traditional producers and in the audience.

It will happen quicker than we think; within our generation. The synergy that exists, the interest there is; I am very optimistic about it happening in our generation. Accessibility is key.

TFV: A facet of new media, Virtual Reality (VR) allows for a new kind of interaction with more standard norms, such as in Confident, where you take a rather interesting Sci-Fi concept and place it into the hands of the viewer to interact with. It is a mixture of game and cinema, something we have been seeing more of recently. Can you speak more on the possibilities of this kind of creation?

I would like to see it becoming more group-focused – people could experience these things together. Somehow you are in a VR world together while simultaneously having a group interaction. VR is changing day to day, the people who are working with it are so creative that they are continuously evolving the form and will eventually allow this to become the norm.

Cosmos Within Us started in Cinemart and then premiered in Venice film festival. An experience where you follow a man with dementia who goes through his life, has flashbacks; you smell things, touch things, and then if you book a behind the scenes look you get to sit with the orchestra which brings it to life. You see them play music as people explore this project; adjusting, improvising at the speed at which an individual audience member engages with the art. The problem is how to make this commercial. How do you make money with it? It is hard to make your money with these kinds of projects.

TFV: “Taking Action” is a rather provocative way to describe Virtual Reality – you are no longer passively consuming entertainment; you are playing a role in it. This is one of the foundational elements of gaming, which has become the most lucrative media business on earth. How do you see viewers “taking action” in future incarnations of this form of entertainment?

If I go by the change in the past five years, the interaction will only continue and increase. New technology creates a grander imagination. Duchampiana, one of our projects, invites women to climb the infinite staircase, rather than going down it. An empowerment and reversal of the classic trope of descending a staircase as a woman.

Full Interview. https://thefilmverdict.com/tfv-talks-to-jolinde-den-haas/

– Daniel Gusinski

Day Of The Tiger

VERDICT: A runaway tiger means extra trouble for a strife-torn married couple in this engaging but slight Romanian chase drama. Stephen Dalton, January 26, 2023

A big cat escapes back into the wild, forcing a young married couple to face a calamitous day of reckoning, in Romanian writerdirector Andrei Tanase’s debut feature Day of the Tiger. Partly inspired by a real incident, this emotionally charged chase drama pays minimal heed to the established drabcore aesthetic of Romanian New Wave cinema, instead favouring a sunny summer palette, breezy pacing, jaunty music and a light sprinkle of absurdist farce. Screening in the Bright Future section of Rotterdam film festival this week, a dedicated platform for first-time film-makers, Tanase’s creature feature is likeable and engaging, even if it ultimately lacks bite, miaowing when it should roar.

Day of the Tiger begins with Vera (Catalina Moga), a vet based at a zoo in a small Romanian city, helping to sedate and transport Rihanna, a tiger previously kept as an illegal pet by a small-time gangster in his disused swimming pool. Once the new arrival has settled in her cage, Vera heads home via her donwtown office, where she witnesses her actor husband Toma (Paul Ipate) having sex with another woman.

Full Review