Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2018 - Museum of Symmetry
"There are no rules here. Just enjoy!"
Part invitation, part dare, an impish game mistress welcomes you into a delightfully disorienting pleasure dome inspired by geometry and nature—and wired with infectious dance beats. What happens next feels like swimming through poetic rainbow juice. An absurdist mind-and-body romp through the highest clouds to the ocean deep, Museum of Symmetry is the explosive feel-good alter-universe of cartoonist and animator Paloma Dawkins—a room-scale VR experience with 2D animation in a 3D playground as never been seen before.
Interview with Writer/Director Paloma Dawkins
Watch Museum of Symmetry here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your VR project ?
Thanks so much! I wanted to create a story where you could embody it like a sculptural experience. A sculpture has to look good from all angles; it has to convey the message in 360, which is what I did with Museum of Symmetry. The story is happening all around you. I’ve made comics and cartoons before and this time I wanted to merge 2D into 3D. You know, like Space Jam.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this VR project?
It will remind you what it’s like to be a kid again!
How do personal and universal themes work in your VR project?
Ashley Obscura and I wrote the story considering our younger selves. We are both inspired by geometric shapes and all their mysterious properties, which have inspired countless myths and interpretations by storytellers over history. We haven’t heard any good reinterpretations lately, so we set out to make our own.
How have the script and VR project evolved over the course of their development?
The game used to be very different! It used to be an actual “game” with rules and conditions. It was pretty limiting though; suddenly art and story took a back seat to whatever the potential mechanics would be. We decided to take a step back and reimagine the project. We switched to VR at this point because it seemed like the perfect medium for total immersion.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been amazing!!! I wasn’t sure what people’s reactions would be like, I’ve never made a VR game before. I was ready for people to completely hate it, but I wasn’t ready to see people dancing, talking to the characters, walking out of bounds, it’s awesome!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The game is different enough that it doesn’t have much to compare it to. I like being in that position. I feel like I am on to something.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Museum of Symmetry was first presented at the end of April in Berlin and continues to circulate at festivals. When we create a project, we hope that it will circulate as much as possible around the world. I was very happy to know that a media outlet based in Australia talks about my work.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
The project is distributed by the National Film Board (NFB), and a whole team is working to promote it. The VR installation is just beginning its festival career. So, I hope for several selections at festivals and even at various art events, to give to as many people as possible the opportunity to live this experience.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this VR project to have?
I hope to see more light-hearted stories in the future. VR is often lauded as the “empathy machine” and a lot of serious, thought-provoking work comes out of that. However, I want the audience to emerge from my stories feeling giddy and playful, to create a balance. I also want to see more 2D in VR. I think it looks and feels great to be immersed in a cartoon world. You know... like Space Jam.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this VR project?
How will we be telling stories in the future?
Would you like to add anything else?
Museum of Symmetry will be available in French and English and will have an installation to go with it! Be sure to check it out at Annecy.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on a game called Cave being developed by the Future Realities Lab at NYU; it will premiere at Siggraph in August. Museum of Symmetry is going to be at Siggraph too!
Interview: June 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Museum of Symmetry
"There are no rules here. Just enjoy!"
Part invitation, part dare, an impish game mistress welcomes you into a delightfully disorienting pleasure dome inspired by geometry and nature—and wired with infectious dance beats. What happens next feels like swimming through poetic rainbow juice. An absurdist mind-and-body romp through the highest clouds to the ocean deep, Museum of Symmetry is the explosive feel-good alter-universe of cartoonist and animator Paloma Dawkins—a room-scale VR experience with 2D animation in a 3D playground as never been seen before.
Length: 20 minutes
Director: Paloma
Producer: Maral Mohammadian
Executive Producer: Michael Fukushima
Writer: Paloma Dawkins, Ashley
About the writer, director and producer
PALOMA DAWKINS is a Montreal-based cartoonist and self-taught animator turned virtual-reality and video-game artist. Known for her fantastical landscapes inhabited by strange and lovable characters, Paloma strives to create games that are surreal and beautiful. Her past work includes the technicolour rainbow graphic novel Summerland, the minimalist and meditative rhythm game ALEA, and the psychedelic explorer game Gardenarium. She first came to work with the NFB through its Hothouse animation-apprenticeship program, which resulted in Scientifiq Piqniq, an animated adventure through the cosmic unveiling of the beautiful and strange macro/micro structures that unite us with the Universe.
ASHLEY OBSCURA is a Montreal-based Canadian-Mexican poet, editor and publisher whose work spans the spectrum from cosmic tweets and visually stimulating poetry to ambient sound art featuring her entrancing spoken word. She is the author of two poetry collections, I Am Here and the upcoming Ambient Technology, and the founder and managing editor of Metatron Press. Her poetry has been anthologized in Canada and the U.S. and translated and published in Spanish and Romanian. She has also has written four e-novellas: How to Be a Rainbow, LIGHGHT, Aura Halo and Oh, Inverted Universe (in collaboration with John Rogers). Her work values positivity and celebration, with a slight bent toward sexy metaphysics and pop mysticism.
MARAL MOHAMMADIAN is a producer at the NFB’s Animation Studio in Montreal, where she has made a number of awarding-winning shorts, including I Am Here, directed by internet sensation Eoin Duffy, and the innovative mixed-media film The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer, directed by Randall Okita. Through the NFB’s internationally recognized Hothouse apprenticeship program, Maral has helped to develop some of Canada’s top rising talents. In addition to animated films, she produces multimedia and interactive projects with a distinct artistic edge.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nfb.ca/ OR https://www.facebook.com/onf.ca/ OR https://www.facebook.com/palomamolap
Twitter: @thenfb OR @onf OR @palomadawkins
Instagram: @onf_nfb OR @missserious999
Official website: http://www.palomadawkins.ca/
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Museum of Symmetry will be released late June 2018.