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