Institute History
Description
Virtual reality for many is as far away a place as can be imagined. In his groundbreaking work, first-time feature director Joe Hunting examines this new frontier for human engagement with surprising tenderness. Following a number of couples who met in VR during the pandemic, Hunting leads with romance but opens an exploration of technology, borders, and imagination. One of the most visually singular and formally exciting documents of the COVID-19 lockdown, We Met in Virtual Reality is a powerful testament to the new paths to connection that creativity can forge. Everything from belly dancing, sign language lessons, and hotly contested billiards games bring an unexpected familiarity to these never-before-seen spaces.
Hunting’s charming, totally immersive feature debut creates a brand-new filmmaking language, adapting cinematic camerawork to the VR social platform VRChat. Motivated by the humanity at the heart of technology, he reveals a world in which gender, sexuality, disability, and trauma are being navigated with an entirely new set of tools to find a fresh flavor of freedom that only an alternate reality can offer.