For decades, our society has been fascinated with the prospect of virtual reality, and over the last few years it seems we’ve made an unprecedented leap forward in this arena. But as technologies like Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear become more and more accessible, the exploration of VR’s creative possibilities is still lagging woefully behind.
Though that may all change change very soon thanks to a couple of very famous Mexicans who have decided to take on the challenge. That’s right: Alejandro González Iñárritu recently announced that, together with his cinematic life partner Emmanuel “El Chivo” Lubezki, he will be making his first virtual reality short for release in the spring.
The untitled project will take on the hot-button issue of immigration, following what has been called an “intense and excruciating” border crossing from Mexico into the US. It’s a project El Negro has apparently been working on for four years, and though we don’t know much more about the story, we can imagine he and El Chivo want nothing less than to revolutionize immersive storytelling.
And indeed, after conquering Cannes and the Academy Awards (and casually pushing filmmaking to new formal extremes,) Iñárritu is probably eager to find new artistic challenges. To be sure, plenty of groundwork has already been laid by independent artists over the last few years, but fans of VR are still waiting for that quantum leap that will bring immersive storytelling into the mainstream. So mark your calendars for the Spring, cause this may very well be the beginning.