News

2022.11.03

The virtual reality film <Red Eyes>, produced by the Art and Technology Lab (AT Lab) of the Korea National University of Arts (President Daejin Kim), has been invited to the immersive competition section of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece's premier film festival, which opens on November 3rd.

※ Thessaloniki International Film Festival program information: https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/section-tiff/movie/1264/14686

Directed by Professor Sngmoo Lee from the School of Film, TV & Multimedia and starring actors Kangwoo Kim and Elijah Lee, this film received high praise from programmer Caitlin Burns, who described it as "the most ambitious work among all live-action VR SF action movies." LG Uplus participated as an investor and distributor, and Jin Film co-produced the film.

<Red Eyes>, set in the near future and dealing with the special operations and hidden secrets of a suicide commando unit, aims to break away from the limitations of static virtual reality content. It is a full 3D 360 cinema created with the goal of providing a sense of urgency and emotion that cannot be experienced in traditional films, achieved through bold camerawork and CG.

<Red Eyes>, invited to this film festival, won the Audience Award in the VIFF Immersed section at the 40th Vancouver International Film Festival last year, and was also invited to the Amsterdam Imagine Film Festival this year.

Meanwhile, the Art and Technology Lab (AT Lab) of Korea National University of Arts focuses on integrating science and technology with culture, arts, industry, and education. As a creation and production research institute, it collaborates with leading domestic and international companies, universities, and research institutes to perform creation and research in the fields of immersive media, advanced medical and artificial intelligence content. In 2020, supported by the Korea Creative Content Agency, AT Lab produced interdisciplinary immersive media performance works like <Scarecrow>, network virtual reality piece <Nine VR>, and the virtual reality poem using 3D space scanning <Rain Fruit>. These works have been successively invited to major international avant-garde film festivals such as Sundance, South by Southwest (SXSW), Tribeca Film Festival, Cannes XR, Amsterdam VRHAM (Virtual Reality & Arts Festival), and Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan. Furthermore, AT Lab has signed an international distribution contract with the global content distributor Iconic Engine, leading the trend in the global immersive media creation and research field.