Banking on the continued success of Latin American projects at immersive festivals and showcases across the globe, Mediamorfosis director Damian Kirzner is looking to help local creatives build stronger in-roads into the international XR ecosystem. The founder and director of Latin America’s largest new media forum, Kirzner was at this year’s NewImages Festival to present a panel, press the flesh, and to take a victory lap of sorts as a pair of locally flavored productions claimed the top prizes.
You attended NewImages to give a presentation on partnerships between France and Latin America. What progress has been made on this front?
We have a medium-term plan established with NewImages to bridge the gap between France and Latin America. This year we started by presenting an overview of our situation and brought content from the region. We have support from the Institut Français and [are going into our second year] of a French immersive residency in Quito. At the next Mediamorfosis in Ecuador and Chile, we will welcome French content in our immersive rooms, we will set up French experiences and installations, and we will invite local specialists to the region. And we hope to return to NewImages with even more Latin American projects next year.
Mediamorfosis sent out a call for VR/immersive projects in 2021. How do you see the state of immersive production in your territories since then?
From 2021 to today, we’ve tracked the rise of “gamefication” of some narrative content, as narrative XR producers search for greater economic sustainability. Despite their success in terms of awards and international recognition, many such projects do not do good business. We’ve also seen the quick rise and fall of the metaverse furor, as it has become clear that this construction is more of an aspirational and marketing concept than a transactional reality. It still has a long way to go.
What can you tell us about the next edition of Mediamorfosis?
The next edition of Mediamorfosis will be held on November 23 and 24 in Quito, Ecuador, at UDLA (Universidad de las Americas), and we hope to have the presence of Michel Reilhac, Karim Ben Khalifa, Tupac Martir and Carlos Scolari, among other international experts. We will have an XR experience room with international content (especially French, Polish and Taiwanese), and there will be workshops, panels and conferences. The exact date of the Chilean edition is still to be defined, but it will be in Valparaiso again, possibly in early November.
What does the Latin American XR industry need to drive growth?
Latin America creates an incredible amount of XR prototypes but due to a lack of financial resources, few of them are ever finalized as finished products. However, when we manage to finish them, they are usually very successful, as can be seen at this NewImages, where two Latin American projects won. The Grand Prize went to “On the Main Square” from Brazil’s Pedro Harres, and the Interactivity Award went to “Eggscape” from Argentina’s German Heller.
We need to continue creating co-production bridges with the world so that our projects can mature. That is Mediamorfosis’ mission. We are currently working on creating bridges with France, Poland, Taiwan, South Korea, Morocco, Israel and the U.S., while working with festivals to be ever present with our creators and our content.
Damian Kirzner