Around fifty companies
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE GENTILHOMME SITE
Installation Locomotive, by Gentilhomme, visible at Place des Arts in Montreal. The Montreal studio will be present at SXSW.
Around fifty Quebec companies specializing in digital creativity will be present in Austin, at the SXSW festival, which takes place from March 8 to 12. The festival – with all its sections, meetings and conferences – continues until March 16. We’re talking about nearly a hundred participants, just for the digital creation sector, tells us Isha Bottin, international project manager at Xn Québec, which has around 200 members.
Two selected works
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JAXA PRODUCTION
Joseph Rouleau: final reminderproduced by Jaxa Production and Film Camera Oscura
Two Quebec works are part of the official selection of SXSW (in the XR Experience category). Joseph Rouleau: final reminder, produced by Jaxa Production and Film Camera Oscura, an immersive animated biopic of the Quebec opera singer; as well as the installation Opal, from Gentilhomme Studios, which explores the relationship between the micro, the macro… and what is in between. Another interactive installation by Gentilhomme, POP!, will be presented outdoors until March 22. It is made up of five monoliths, each containing an inflatable creature.
XR Experience Exhibition
PHOTO PROVIDED BY TELESCOPE FILMS
The Missing Halfa theatrical adventure in XR, produced by Telescope Films
Around ten Quebec works will be presented at the Fairmont Hotel as part of the XR Experience Exhibition. Among them, Nest, from the Iregular group, a digital artwork “focused on sound that changes the way interactive experiences are lived”. And The Missing Half, an XR theatrical adventure, inspired by the myth of Aristophanes and Plato, produced by Telescope Films. A production by Samuel Caron, the same one who produced the short film by Vincent René-Lortie, Invinciblenominated for the Oscars.
Phi Studios
PHOTO ÉDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Photo taken during the inauguration of the virtual reality exhibition The Infiniteat Arsenal Montreal
Phi Studios, who worked with Felix & Paul and NASA to create the mind-blowing experience of The Infinite – a VR recreation of the International Space Station – and which has just launched The horizon of Cheops in Montreal – with Emissive – will also be present. They will present Space Walkersfrom Felix & Paul Studios, as well as the trailer for Traveling While Blackalso from F & P. The head of new media partnerships and public relations, Myriam Achard, tells us that Phi is present to demonstrate its expertise as a distributor of experiences for physical locations.
250 million in exports
PHOTO ULYSSE LEMERISE, PROVIDED BY GENTILHOMME
The interactive installation POP!from the Gentilhomme box
According to the results of a survey recently conducted among its approximately 200 members, Xn Québec noted that 70% of digital creativity companies export their products and services. Revenues representing around 248 million in 2022. We are talking about an industry which now employs around 4,000 people. “What we hope by going to SXSW is of course to show our know-how, but it is also to conclude agreements, partnerships, co-productions,” Isha Bottin, of Xn Québec, tells us.
Music well represented
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The musician Simon Leoza
The music sector is also well represented this year at SXSW. SODEC teamed up with Pop Montréal and M pour Montréal to introduce Quebec artists. Will therefore be present: Hanorah, Sorry Girls, Janette King, Nobro, La Sécurité, Totalement Sublime, but also Winona Forever, Corridor, Nyssa, Love Language, Night Lunch. And again: Alix Ferns, Arielle Soucy, Crabe, DVTR, Le Couleur, Maxime, Miranda Joan, N’Nao, Planet Giza, Population II, Prince Amine, Shaina Hayes, Simon Leoza and Zouz. Who says better ?!
Eight films selected
IMAGE TAKEN FROM 7 BEATS PER MINUTE
Jessea Lu in the documentary 7 beats per minute
Cinema is not left out, eight films having been selected. The feature-length documentary 7 beats per minute, by Yuqi Kang, the tragic story of freediver Jessea Lu, who lost consciousness and nearly died while attempting to break a world record. Short films Your earsby Alexandre Isabelle, Hello Strangerby Amélie Hardy, and My tomato heart, by Benoît Le Rouzès Ménard; movies Adrianne & the castleby Shannon Walsh, Hunting dayby Annick Blanc, and Turtles, by David Lambert. And finally the animated short film A hole in the chestby Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel.
Visit the site for Quebec digital activities at SXSW
Visit the SXSW website (in English)