17/11/2024 XR Workshop 2024 Summary!

Take a breath – this won’t be short, but we’ve got lots of exciting updates to share!

 

Last Thursday our XR Workshop came to an end. Eight teams took part in it after submitting their projects in response to our Open Call for works in new media exploring trauma and resilience. The workshop aimed at refining the proposals through a comprehensive mentorship process with a variety of professionals: Ellen Kuo, Head of the XR Market at the NewImages Festival; Sonka Kirchhof, a leading German creator and producer in new media; Maya Shekel, a director, designer, and XR creator; and Nir Sa’ar, filmmaker, XR creator, and Artistic Director at Makor Media Lab.

 

Dr. Anat Brunstein Klomek, Dean of the School of Psychology at Reichman University, led a fascinating two-hour session that equipped the teams with key insights into crafting narrative works about trauma and resilience. Following her was Lior Nesher, a screenwriter and script editor, who guided – and will continue guiding – the teams in sharpening and refining their stories in the coming weeks ahead of the final submissions. We were also fortunate to have a masterclass by Pedro Harres, an award-winning XR creator and director of From the Main Square (highly recommended!); Alona Abt, from Hop! Media Group, who discussed impact and partnership building; Adam Weingrod, a filmmaker and XR creator whose latest work, Spots of Light, won the Smart Award at the recent FIPADOC festival and continues to shine on prominent stages worldwide; and Gili Gaon, who conceived the idea for this Open Call and whose involvement lends a better understanding of the media landscape.

 

As part of the workshop, we held an open industry day about the expanding uses of Unreal Engine for creating 3D environments in film, TV, and new media. Led by Arie Croitoru and Michal Ben-David, and featuring groundbreaking creators: Yoni Geva, Assaf Lapid, Adam Horowitz, Alon Saranga, and Daniel Shamota (all the talks will be posted soon – stay tuned!)

 

For the first time in the XR Workshop we arranged for a VR viewing room fro creators and staff! This allowed the teams to explore a wide range of international and local VR creations from recent years (some of which we were supported by Makor Media).

 

To conclude, we thank our amazing partners, without whom none of this would have been possible: Mifal Hapais – Israel Lottery Council for Culture and Arts, The French Institute – The French Embassy in Israel, Goethe Institute, The Advanced Reality Lab (ARL) and the School of Psychology at Reichman University, and NewImages Hub – Forum des Images, Paris.

 

Good luck to all the teams in their final submissions!
18/09/2024 “2 Minutes | Taking Pulse” project at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People

We are pleased to announce that "ANU – Museum of the Jewish People" will be hosting a selection of shorts from the "2 Minutes | Taking Pulse" project, for a month at the Marty and Aviva Pazner Media Pavilion.

 

As you may recall, A few weeks after the Israel-Hamas War broke out, Makor Foundation for Israeli Films published an open call inviting filmmakers to submit completed short-shorts addressing the situation from a personal perspective, in all its facets. It was, in fact, a creative pulse check. Ultimately, 33 films were selected from dozens of submissions and received production grants from the Foundation, with the support of Alona Abt and Tamir Paul.

 

On Friday, September 27th, between 10:00-12:00, the museum will host an extended gallery talk on the exhibition "October 7th." As part of the event, the project will be presented, and filmmakers Tehila Lapidot and Yuval Nitzan will speak about their shorts.

 

Here is a list of the films in the collection: A Different Time - Yuval Nitzan | Knock Knock - Noam Karmeli, Shiran Buchnik | Paper Butterflies - Neta Shenitzer | War Before Bedtime - Tehila Lapidot | Tunnel Vision - Rani Avidan | Half Mast - Yoni Goodman | Home Front - Oz Zirlin | The List - Mooly Landsman | Breakfast - Nitsan Cohen | Left Behind - Omer Harel | Boar - Ron Justus-Segal | Bonding | Gal Salomon, Alon Galil | Summer, Rain | Omer Rosenberg | Propaganda - Idan Zarmon, Eden Akshoti | Where is home? - Eitan Herman | A Letter to a Man - Amit Erell | Hope - Omer Barak | Illusion of Motion - Yael Bonne.
17/06/2024 XR Open Call – I SEE YOU

An Open call for immersive works on the theme of trauma in AR | MR | VR, in collaboration with the Pais Council for Culture and Arts, is now open until Sunday, July 28th 15:00CET.

Submit your proposal and there's a chance you will participate in a professional incubator, receive a production grant, and take part in the NewImages Festival in Paris next year.

 

Also - we have an Open Industry Day dedicated entirely to the this Open Call, on June 25th, at the French Institute. Here you can read all the details and register.

 

🎗️

01/05/2024

Last week the NewImages Festival, a major international venue for XR creators, took place in Paris, and it was a pleasure to participate in it with our 4 Climate Crisis projects teams.

There were excellent lectures, a showcase of breathtaking and innovative XR experiences and an opportunity for the creator’s teams to meet with XR industry professionals, to network and secure additional funding for their projects. In the link below we put some snapshots, but you really should have been there...

We’d like to wish the teams luck and success on their journey ❤

 

Our gratitude to our wonderful partners: NewImages Hub – Forum des Images: Michel Zigler, Ellen Kuo, Manon Blot and their team, Mifal Hapais - Israel Lottery Council for Culture & Arts: Dolin Melnik, Noa Bachar, Rafael Balulu, The French Institute – Israel and The French Embassy – Israel: Guillaume Mainguet, Goethe Institute: Carola Duerr, School of Sustainability: Prof. Yoav Yair and Advanced Reality Lab (ARL): Prof. Doron Friedman at Reichman University.
05/03/2024 Selected Projects – Climate Crisis XR Workshop

This is it. Our Climate Crisis XR Workshop has come to an end.
As we've mentioned previously, this year's Workshop took place in a hybrid format due to the terrible disaster that occurred on October 7th. 
Eight talented teams participated in the workshop over the past few weeks, and at its conclusion, 4 projects were selected to receive development and production grants totaling 100,000 NIS each:

 

The Burner Boys – Nofar Laor and Ronny Daniel
The Last Bee – Yair Bartal and Shaked Orenstein
The Climate Diplomat – Roy Kimhi and Jonathan Manevich
Dead Sea Elegy – Shiri Blumenthal and Eviatar Moncaz

 

We congratulate them and wish them great success in the further development and production of their wonderful and captivating creations. All of this was made possible with the passion and commitment of our wonderful partners: Mifal Hapais - Israel Lottery Council for Culture & Arts, The French Institute – Israel and The French Embassy – Israel, Goethe Institute, NewImages Hub – Forum des Images, School of Sustainability and Advanced Reality Lab (ARL) - Reichman University.
20/02/2024 Congratulations to all the talented creators, awarded last night at the Israeli Documentary Forum Awards Ceremony

Ran Tal | 1341 Frames of Love and War - Award for Best Full-Length Documentary, and recipient of a Development Grant from HOT and Makor Foundation.

 

Henya Brodbeker | The Three of Us - Award for Best Debut Film

 

Efim Graboy | Lies I Told Myself - Award for Best Cinematography

 

Noa Haber | 1341 Frames of Love and War - Award for Artistic Design

 

We were truly excited!
28/01/2024 Spots of Light won the Smart Award – FipaDoc 2024

We are thrilled beyond words. What an honorable achievement.

Kudos to Adam Weingrod and the production teams in Israel and Canada for taking part in this journey of this beautiful experience.

 

 

Have a look at the Jury Statement:

The Smart Jury unanimously decided to award 'Spots of Life' the Best Film prize in the Smart category. This VR masterpiece dives into the destiny of Dan Layani, a solider who lost his sight in war. Unimaginable in a traditional format, imparting a powerful life lesson, ‘Spots of Light' has illuminated Biarritz Immersive with its profound storytelling, reminding us that courage and hope can indeed be found even in the darkest corners.

In the midst of full darkness, it reaffirms that one can always find his/her light.
18/01/2024 A meeting at the French Institute this week

It finally happened! A first physical meeting in our hybrid XR Climate Crisis Workshop at the French Institute. We took off with Kobi Gur, who shared with us the essentials about 360° photography, and then we stepped outside to practice and feel how this works and it was fascinating.

Later on, Prof. Yoav Yair, our favourite climate expert and head of the Climate Risk Management track at the School of Sustainability, Reichman University, consulted with the 8 participating creative teams about their projects. That lecture\conversation he delivered was wonderful, both depressing and optimistic (who would have thought that such a mix is possible). Finally, we met all four international mentors again for their professional Show and Tell, and learned about production, marketing and about the various ways immersive narrative creations affect audiences.    
11/01/2024 The Climate Crisis XR Workshop has been launched

On October 6th we were still dealing with preparations for the Climate Crisis XR Workshop, scheduled to take place in November. This was after we published an Open Call for new media immersive experiences last summer and received over thirty submissions. From those, we selected 8 original and fascinating projects.
Three months have passed since then, and as you know, everything has changed. Alongside the constant immense fear, anger and sadness, we found ways to continue promoting cinematic activity and creation. And yes, we are also happy to announce that the Workshop has set off. We transitioned to a Hybrid Workshop model and launched it last week. 
All of this wouldn't have happened without our wonderful partners: The French Institute – Israel, The French Embassy – Israel, Goethe Institute, Mifal Hapais - Israel Lottery Council for Culture & Arts, NewImages Hub – Forum des Images, School of Sustainability and Advanced Reality Lab (ARL) - Reichman University.
The four mentors guiding the 8 projects' creators are: Michelle Feuerlicht, an experienced XR creator from London, Ellen Kuo, director of the XR market at the NewImages festival, Sonke Kirchhoff, director of INVR.SPACE, and Reallifefilms, creator and vice president of XR4EUROPE, and our fourth mentor, who is also the artistic director at Makor Media Lab and an experienced XR creator - Nir Sa'ar.
We are also expecting fascinating meetings with excellent lecturers from Israel and from abroad, who will talk about the development, production, fundraising and distribution of XR immersive creations. 
We will continue to update here so stay tuned.
20/12/2023 Short Animation Films Event

The French Institute and Makor Foundation for Israeli Films are happy to invite you to a screening of short animated films. After the screening, we invite you to participate in an open discussion with the creators.

 

Apart (Director: Oved Poran | 11 minutes) | Your Bad Animals (Directors: Ido Shapira & Amit Cohen, 11 minutes) | We Were a Sterile Bomb (Director: Dotan Moreno, 15 minutes) | Maurice's Bar (Directors: Tom Perzman & Tzur Adri, 15 minutes).

Tuesday evening, December 26th, 19:30, at the French Institute, Rothschild Blvd. 7, Tel Aviv.

Admission is free, advanced registration is required.
14/12/2023 Short Fiction Films Event

The French Institute and Makor Foundation for Israeli Films are happy to invite you to a screening of short fiction films. After the screening, we invite you to participate in an open discussion with the creators.

 

Veil (Director: Orit Fouks Rotem, 21 minutes) | Revived (Director: Uriya Hertz, 16 minutes) | Full of light (Director: Rona Segal, 12 minutes) | Butterflies (Director: Yona Rozenkier, 8 minutes).

 

Tuesday evening, December 19th, 19:30, at the French Institute, Rothschild Blvd. 7, Tel Aviv.

Admission is free, advanced registration is required.