Samsara was selected for the 78th Venice VR Film Festival and also won the Jury Award of the SXSW and Best VR Story of the Cannes XR competition. This VR experience teleports the audience into a journey that spans millions of years. Like the Six realms of existence in Buddhism, the audience reincarnate into different persons and creatures and experience the universe in their new bodies to find the ultimate transcendence spiritually.

The story of Samsara happens in the near future. The resources on Earth have depleted due to the greed of mankind. Catastrophic wars to fight for resources result in global destruction. The remaining human was forced to leave Earth and find a new home. Nevertheless, will this long quest for a new home be a loop in space and time? The constant evolution as well as progress, without spiritual advancement, is nothing more than a Möbius strip that leads nowhere, perhaps…

Samsara is an experiment based on the concept of Embodied Cognition. Through interactivity and VR, the audience can live inside bodies of different persons and creatures. It is when we feel this world in different bodies that we may truly appreciate thoughts of others, empathize with them, and comprehend our existence in full and in harmony.

Release Date:2021.06.30
Length: 24 Min.

Award:

	>	SXSW Jury Award
	>	Cannes XR Best VR Story Award
	>	VRE Rome Special Jury Prize
	>	Red Sea International Film Festival Immersive Silver Yusr
	>	FIVARS People's Choice: Best Interactive Experience
	>	Honorary Mention of Prix Ars Electronica

Behind the Scene:

Credit

Director: Hsin-Chien Huang

Presented by VPAT & KAOHSIUNG FILM ARCHIVE
Produced by VPAT
Advised by Ministry of Culture, Taiwan & TAICCA

Producer SAIAU-YUE TSAU
Screenplay by Hsin-Chien Huang
Music:  Jason Binnick
Project Manager:  Chung-Hsien Chen
Programming:  Wei-Chieh Chiu,  Chun-Yen Yu
Dialog:  Ya-Jyue Lien         
Voice Actor/Actress:  Francesca Lo Russo,   Jason Binnick,  
Sheng-Fang Syu,   Yan-Ling Lin,   Pin-Hui Fu
Singer:  Ya Su
Concept Art:  Guan-Yi Li,   Zu-Wei Cheng
3D Art:  Warren Wu & Fig Creative Studio,  
Pei-Yang Ye,   Guan-Yu Lin,  Ying-Li Lin
Volumetric Capture Actress:  Sheng-Fang Syu
Volumetric Capture by TAICCA

Kaohsiung Film Archive VR FILM LAB

Director:   Meng-Yin Yang
Deputy Director:   Hao-Jie Huang
Head of Production Planning Department:   Grace Huai-Chin Lee
Production Coordinator:   Sebox Wu Hung
International Distribution:   Min-Wei Kuo
Press Manager:   Wei-Law Wang

Special Thanks

Yi-Ling Chou
Dumile Dlamini
Tzu-Han Hsu
Wen-Wei Hsu
Chao-Hsuan Hung
Yan-Ling Lin
Chiao-Chieh Lu
Indigenous Peoples Cultural Development Center