PROJECT SYRIA
VIRTUAL REALITY STORYTELLING, 2014
NONNY DE LA PEÑA (US).
You are walking down a busy street in the Aleppo district of Syria. Children are playing, and vendors are peddling their wares. Suddenly, a rocket hits. Dust and debris scatter everywhere. Across the street, there is a child on the ground. Journalist Nonny de la Peña pioneered virtual reality storytelling with technologist Palmer Luckey at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival with Hunger in Los Angeles, an immersive journalism ‘machinima’ video.
This process uses video game graphics to make animated films. With Project Syria, she brings us a journalistic account of war-torn Syria and the refugee camp filling with Syrians as they flee their homeland.
BIO:
Nonny de la Peña, Emblematic Group CEO and University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts fellow, was named one of the People Who Made the World More Creative by Fast Company for pioneering the use of virtual reality technologies to create immersive and visceral stories. A Harvard University graduate and former Newsweek correspondent, her work has been featured worldwide including Wired, the BBC, Mashable, Vice News, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tribeca and Sundance film festivals.