Paper Birds will premiere later this year at the 2020 International Venice Fim Festival.
Emmy award-winning VR animation house Baobab Studios (Asteroids! Crow: The Legend, Bonfire) has partnered with 3DAR (Gloomy Eyes, Nespresso VR) and Oculus on a brand new VR animated short entitled Paper Birds which is scheduled to premiere later this year at the 2020 International Venice Film Festival.
In this miniaturized musical adventure, viewers follow Toto, an exceptionally talented musician, and skilled bandoneon player, who’s incredible compositions catch the attention of a flock of exotic paper birds which have the ability to unlock a portal between the physical world and a dark underworld invisible to the public eye. Paper Birds follows Toto as he learns more about his ability to connect these two worlds using his incredible music. According to Baobab and 3DAR, every aspect of Paper Birds, from the environments and characters down to the textures, have been designed to look as though they’ve been handcrafted by artisans.
“3DAR’s alliance with Baobab is very exciting and their great level of experience enormously boosts the potential of Paper Birds,” said writer/director German Heller, in an official release. “Not only through amazing creative and production input, but they bring a fresh point of view to expand what we believe we can do with the project – I think they’re the perfect partner for a world and characters as rich as in Paper Birds.”
Earlier today, the team announced that adorable child actor and star of Disney’s upcoming Home Alone reboot, Archie Yates, will be playing the lead role of Toto. You may recognize Yates from his role as Yorki in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit. Celebrated Argentine tango bandoneon player, Juan Jose Mosalini, will provide the music.
“I just personally love the idea of virtual reality and I didn’t even know telling stories inside of [VR] was something you could do – the design of Paper Birds is incredible,” said Archie Yates. “It’s just so cool; I
am over the moon.”
“We’re beyond excited to welcome the irrepressible talent of Archie Yates to Paper Birds and to be a part of the auspicious directorial debut of German and Federico,” added Kane Lee, Baobab’s Head of Content. “The talented team at 3DAR shares a can-do mindset and deep creative spark that we’re
thrilled to get behind because, like us, it comes from a place of passion for animation.”
Paper Birds premieres later this year at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. Users can then download the first of two installments via the Oculus Store.
Image Credit: 3DAR
