Dienstag, 9. Dezember 2008

Kinsahsa 2.0 supposed to be the most successfull Mixed Reality Machinima ever


The Mixed Reality documentation KINSHASA 2.0 was produced in the context of the project "Why Democracy" and deals with the political situation within the Democratic Republic of Kongo as well as the possibilities of the internet to strenghten democracy. The film was realized making use of the virtual world Second Life®. The scenes that were shot inworld have been produced by the agency YOUin3D.com from Berlin. Director: Teboho Edkins.
Teboho Edkins was born in the USA in 1980 and grew up in mainly in Lesotho, but also Germany, South Africa and France and now lives in Berlin. He studied Fine Art in Cape Town, did a 2-year post-graduate residency at le Fresnoy, studio national des arts contemporains in France, and is currently in the post-graduate programme of the dffb film academy in Berlin. He has received numerous scholarships and prizes.
Teboho Edkins on stage after screening of Kinshasa 2.0 at Berlinale 2008 in Berlin.

Synopsis of the film:
Kinshasa 2.0 tells the story of how the arrest of Marie-Thérèse Nlandu, a woman from a prominent political family in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was publicised through the Internet and resulted in filmmaker Teboho Edkins visiting Kinshasa to see how the arrest has affected the family.

His film explores a tense, militarised Kinshasa, where it is extremely difficult to film, and using Second Life® – a 3D virtual chat program - he looks at his friend Carine’s attempt to keep in contact with her aunt Marie-Thérèse after she is released and goes into exile in Belgium.
The film moves between the real city and the heightened world of Second Life® accompanied by a silent observer – a wooden soldier that appears on the edge of most scenes observing, waiting, watching…


Kinshasa 2.0 already has been presented atthe following Festivals:
February 2008
1) "Talent Campus" at the Berlinale 2008 in Berlin
2) Directors Lounge, Berlin
May 2008
3) "International competition" of the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen
4) Project 10 – Real Stories From a Free South Africa, Berlin

June 2008
5) "Official Competition" of the Norwegian Short Film Festival
6) International Film Festival Innsbruck

August 2008
7) 3e Festival Cinémas d'Afrique et Journées du Crocodile de Lausanne

September 2008
8) Africa in the Picture Festival Amsterdam
9) VIDEO_DUMBO, Contemporary Video Art Exhibiton, part of ART UNDER THE BRIDGE FESTIVAL, New York City
10) International Literature Film Festival Berlin

October 2008
11) International Youth Film Festival St. Petersburg

November 2008
12) XXVIII Festival of African Cinema of Verona
13) Tehran International Short Film Festival
14) Monkeytown, Video Art Exhibtion, New York
15) 25. Französische Filmtage Tübingen-Stuttgart

Dezember 2008
16) Rencontre Internationales, Paris/Berlin/Madrid



Kinshasa 2.0 has also been broadcasted on TV:
January 2008
1) NRK2, Norge
February 2008
2)arte,Germany/France

3) PBS, North America

Pictures from the "Making of" see here.

Montag, 1. Dezember 2008

Login2headquarter

Daniel Moshel wrote on his login2life blog about his visit in our newBERLIN Headquarter:"On the day of my departure back to Vienna I spontaneously met Jan and Tobias from ‘You in 3D’. If you are looking for a perfect representation of you, your business, or whatever in SL (or even better in virtual Berlin), here you find some pretty amazing guys who make anything possible you even can’t imagine. But they do more than just business in SL, they are enriching the cultural life of Berlin as well as in SL in organizing loads of events and programs, also intermixing all levels of perception possibilities. I was pretty amazed by her office. Mainly it is divided into two rooms: The first room looks pretty neat with oversized printouts of virtual Berlin plastering the walls. Here Tobias team are representing almost a white collar image. If you step through the narrow gangway to Jan’s working place you are entering a world you thought it exists just in movies. But see for yourself."



For more information see this recent post in this blog or visit the login2life blog.


Here is the first Trailer of login2life: