I remember seeing my first 3D movie as a kid, trying to grab Michael Jackson—there’s a joke in there somewhere—and everything else that flew at the audience. Needless to say, we looked collectively stupid, but it was effin' awesome! And now, twenty years later, I got to experience it again with Paradijs, the very first virtual reality feature film in Belgium.
Before talking about the film, let’s take a look at the team behind it. is a fresh and developing production company that specializes in virtual reality (VR). Founded and led by young Antwerpians, our diamond metropolis can add yet another set of names to the list of homegrown creatives. Most recently, they released a VR motion picture by the name of Paradijs or, for those of you who don’t speak the world’s most irrelevant language, Paradise . Naturally, I went to the screening last week, hoping to get my hipster socks blown off.
After arriving at the screening, a man in a raincoat welcomes the audience and leads us straight to the basement. Weirder things have happened, right? Anyway, the underground room is dimly lit with a round table in the middle, surrounded by eight swivel chairs. We each take a seat and while the staff hands out the VR equipment, I look around and can’t help but wonder: did I accidentally join a religious cult group again? Goddamnit, Kevin…
I put on the gear and the movie starts. After a short intro, I take over the main protagonist’s point of view, so now it’s me who’s digitally walking through a forest an—oh my god there’s the guy in the raincoat again! He blindfolds me and then takes me to a farm where supposedly my brother joined some weird-ass cult. From here on out, it’s one mystery after another and this is where the strengths of virtual reality start to surface. There is so much happening around me in this mystery/horror short film, that I have to spin my chair around like a madman to see what all these creepy characters are doing all the time. One quick peak from under my VR glasses and I can see the entire room doing the exact same thing, mission ‘looking collectively stupid but awesome’: achieved.
Figuring out the ending is something I’ll leave to you, my dear readers—all three of you—because Soulmade is bringing ‘Paradijs’ to Antwerp for a public viewing in the near future. So if you want to look collectively stupid but have an awesome time as well, be sure to follow their for the upcoming announcement.
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Text by Kevin Lau
Pics by Kevin Lau and Soulmade