“Home after War”, a Virtual Reality experience on the devastating impact of improvised explosive devices in Iraq, won the ‘Best Use of Immersive Arts’ award at SXSW, and won the Best VR Experience and Sound as well as the Jury Prize for Creative Advocacy and Journalistic Achievement at the SIMA2019.
The immersive and interactive experience “Home After War” has been selected to compete at this year’s Venice Film Festival in the virtual reality category. It was created as part of the Oculus VR for Good Creators Lab by NowHere Media in Berlin, Germany and in partnership with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD).
What if your home becomes the place you fear?
“Home After War,” directed by Gayatri Parameswaran, takes the user into the house and heart of the tragic, real-life story of an Iraqi family that returned to Fallujah, Iraq after being displaced from their home by war. After the Islamic State (IS) was forced out of Fallujah in 2016, Ahmaied Hamad Khalaf and his family decided to return to their house, even though entire neighbourhoods had been booby trapped by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Since the end of the war, thousands of civilians have died or been injured by IEDs. The victims are mostly displaced people returning home.
Walking through a booby-trapped house
Viewers are invited to walk through Ahmaied’s home, which still shows signs of the damage from the war. With Ahmaied as their guide, they hear his story and learn about the ever-present fear posed by IEDs and what it’s like to fear the home you once loved. The interactive experience is complemented by embedded 360° videos that give viewers the opportunity to witness outdoor scenes in Fallujah and refugee camps.
The experience
“Home after War” was shot in Fallujah, Iraq in January 2018. Ahmaeid’s story is real. Using photogrammetry, his house was scanned and recreated in a virtual software to give viewers a room scale, interactive experience. At the festival in Venice, the experience will be set within a unique physical installation that recreates part of Ahmaied’s house. The experience will be completed by a display of IEDs and complementary information by GICHD.
Source: Now here media
Making of : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CNIWM_bh48&list=PLUXKz6VILtHNjCyTXzxJ_9Gbth5rcnncR
More information: https://www.homeafterwar.net/
