Bernard Michaux (realab); Dounia Sichov (jury, Nouveaux Ecrans); Jan Vasak, Day for Night Productions; Sonia Delhaye, winner; Guy Daleiden, CEO Film Fund Luxembour;
Credit: Stéphane Félicité
As part of the closing ceremony of the "Paris Courts Devant" festival, which took place on 21 November 2017, Guy Daleiden, director of the Luxembourg Film Fund, announced the winner of the "Prix Virtelio 2017" concerning writing of films in virtual reality, in the presence of the jury and partners.
This initiative, launched by the Luxembourg Film Fund in collaboration with the start-up Realab, was announced and launched by Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Minister of Communications and Media, during the Cannes Film Festival last May.
The prize was awarded to the French director Sonia Delhaye's short film project "Sex Buyers", an interactive and sensory documentary fiction that criticises prostitution and the sex trade by questioning the act of purchase by an immersive staging. The short film, produced by the Parisian company Day for Night Productions, will use Realab's Virtelio interactivity technology and will be broadcast via the mk2 VR network.
The Virtelio prize is endowed with €150,000, the amount allocated by the Luxembourg Film Fund, which will be fully invested in a co-production with a Luxembourg audiovisual production company.
"This collaborative initiative with the realab company underlines Luxembourg's commitment to resolutely engage in the field of new writing and new audiovisual technologies," said Guy Daleiden.
