in German & English
The Tent: An AR Story
22 Minuten
A woman wakes up one morning to find a mysterious tent in her front yard. What is she to make of it? “The Tent” is a 22-minute fairy-tale-like AR experience that explores the relationship between squatters and homelessness. With wit and sensitivity, director Rory Mitchell and Martha Marion explore interpersonal dynamics and raise questions about responsibility and guilt, power and privilege. Developed using volumetric video and photogrammetry, it allows the audience to explore a miniature world from every perspective, creating a film in which they can move freely. “The Tent” is a drama, a satire, a petty bourgeois fever dream, and a fable for society.
Screenwriter Martha Marion
Produced by The Mercantile Agency
Executive Producers Rory Mitchell, Martha Marion, Lou Doye
Production Sébastien Hameline, Peter Davison
Sound Design Dave McKeever
Music Dave ‘Mustang’ Lang
with Maddy Wager, Jet Eveleth, Greg Mosse
Deutsche Übersetzung Jost von Harleßem
Voices Luisa Schwab, Anke Stedingk, Franz Solar
Recording Martin Arnold, Lukas Lechner-Heschl, Batuhan Gülcan
Premiere SXSW 2024 Film & TV Festival, Austin, Texas
Awards Silver medal for the best story/narrative at XR Must 2024
The project celebrated its world premiere at the SXSW 2024 Film and TV Festival. Subsequently, the work was shown at international film festivals, with screenings in Paris, Shanghai, Seoul and Toronto, among others.
Die deutsche Übersetzung wurde erstellt vom Schauspielhaus Graz im Rahmen von DIGITHALIA – Festival für virtuelle Theaterformen Graz
Rory Mitchell is a Los Angeles-based XR director for immersive media, specialising in VR, AR, volumetric capture and photogrammetry. With a background in theatre and documentary film, his work explores the intersection of technology, human experience and social complexity through immersive storytelling. His projects have been shown at Cannes, SXSW, New Images Festival, Busan, Shanghai, DOC NYC, PBS, etc., and include cinematic 360° narratives, installations and brand-related XR content. As the founder of various technology companies and later of The Mercantile Agency, Mitchell has led immersive productions and opened up new horizons in immersive storytelling with ‘The Tent’. As a storyteller and systems thinker, he pushes the boundaries of XR and creates human-centred experiences that challenge perception, deepen empathy and explore the future of shared digital spaces.
Martha Marion is a writer, poet and actress based in Los Angeles. Her immersive show ‘And the Drum’ has pushed the boundaries of interactive storytelling and has been praised as one of the best plays in Los Angeles. Immersive works sparked Martha's interest in cross-disciplinary forms such as VR, AR and mixed reality. Prior to ‘The Tent’, Martha wrote the narrative VR drama ‘The Visigoths’, which premiered at the Museum of Broken Relationships, was subsequently screened at the Seattle International Film Festival and celebrated its international premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Sébastien Hameline (Production and Photogrammetry) is a Paris-born immersive imaging specialist renowned for his expertise in live-action capture in the fields of XR, VR, AR and MR. A graduate of the Sorbonne, he combines technical precision with creative innovation in his work and serves in various roles, including cinematographer, photogrammetry director, panoramic photographer, motion control operator, drone pilot and producer. Through his immersive projects – ranging from cinematic narratives to interactive concerts – and with Emmy and Clio nominations to his name, Hameline is known for pushing the boundaries of immersive storytelling and shaping the future of virtual experiences.
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