13 VR Projects to Compete at BIAF 2019

Festival unveils the official selection for its first VR competition, which includes Oscar-winning director John Kahr’s Oscar-nominated ‘Age of Sail.’

The Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF 2019), an Academy Award-qualifying event, has announced its official VR competition selection for the upcoming October 18-22 edition. 13 VR experiences were chosen, including this year’s Oscar-nominated Age of Sail by Oscar-winning director John Kahrs, along with Venice International Film Festival selection Nothing Happens and Songbird by Uri & Michelle Kranot. In addition, Ghost in the Shell: Virtual Reality Diver and the Korean VR films The Tide ep.01 and ep.02, by director Taekyung Yoo from Dexter Studios, are among the selections.

Kahrs’ 2012 Oscar-winning short, Paperman, was BIAF 2012’s opening film, and the director received the BIAF Special Distinction Prize for TV & Commissioned Film in 2017 for the short film, June.

Held in each year in Bucheon, South Korea, BIAF accepts animated films in the following categories: Competition Feature, Short, Graduation, VR, TV & Commissioned. Over KRW 46,000,000 (Approx. USD 42,000) in cash prizes will be awarded in six categories: Feature, Short, Graduation, TV & Commissioned, Korean Short and Online.

BIAF2019 VR Competition 13
No	Category	Title	Director	Country
1	VR	FOREST	Kelsey BONCATO, Daniel OLDHAM	USA
2	VR	Relation • Ship	Zoey LIN	USA
3	VR	Dokument Parakozmik	Vladislav KNEŽEVIĆ	Croatia
4	VR	Nothing Happens	Michelle KRANOT, Uri KRANOT	Denmark
5	VR	Songbird	Lucy GREENWELL, Michelle KRANOT, Uri KRANOT	Denmark
6	VR	MOWB	Kazuki YUHARA	Japan
7	VR	Living with Spinal Cord Injury	Davey JOSE	UK
8	VR	Tower of Babel by the Sea	FENG Wei-Jung	Taiwan
9	VR	Anonymous	Sojung BAHNG	Australia, South Korea
10	VR	Ghost in the Shell: Virtual Reality Diver	HIGASHI Hiroaki	Japan
11	VR	Age of Sail	John KAHRS	USA
12	VR	The Tide ep.01	YOO Taekyung	South Korea
13	VR	The Tide ep.02	YOO Taekyung	South Korea