The Isle of the Dead | Digital productions ARTE

The Isle of the Dead

Böcklin's mysterious Isle of the Dead is one of the most often reproduced paintings in the history of art. It fascinated Lenin and Hitler, Freud and Clémenceau, and inspired both Dali and Scorsese. The painting represents the final journey as described in Greek mythology, as the boatman Charon accompanies the dead to the underworld on the other side of the river Styx.

This experience proposes something unthinkable: join Charon and travel to the very portal of the underworld. The journey starts in a comfortable, cosy, modern apartment. Suddenly the world around you starts to break up: walls and surfaces crack, crumble and fall into the dark waters of the end of time. In an inescapable forward motion propelled by the collapse of everything around us, we glide…

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    Technical Info & Short Credits

    Format
    VR/360°/AR
    Genre
    Fiction
    Duration
    8 minutes
    Technique
    Animation
    Based on the painting - "The Isle of the Dead"
    Arnold Böcklin
    Directed by
    Benjamin Nuel
    Written by
    Benjamin Nuel - Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat
    Music
    Isle of the Dead Op 29 Sergei Rachmaninoff by Hawkes & Son
    Coproduction
    ARTE France - Les Produits Frais

    Casting

    Narrated by
    Richard Doust

    Nominations and awards

    • Best VR story La biennale di Venezia 2018
    • Prix du public Festival de Belfort 2018
    • The Special Jury VR AwardFilmGate Miami 2018
    • Best Virtual Reality Short FilmChina International New Media Short Film Festival