/Cutting Edge Creates VR Documentary Experience for SBS VR
SBS VR recently partnered with Cutting Edge to launch ‘Inside Manus’, a virtual reality documentary experience, exploring the imprisonment of asylum seekers in the offshore detention centre, Manus Island.
With the concept of such detention centers foreign to most Australians, the people on Manus Island are cloaked behind a media blackout. SBS has harnessed the immersive power of VR, in a world-first documentary for virtual reality filmmakers. Guiding the audience behind the razor-wire fences, ‘Inside Manus’ shares the story of three current detainees who are being denied their freedom, their rights, and even their identity.
To tell their stories, ‘Inside Manus’ share detainees experiences from their own words and their own voices. Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a 25-year-old Sudanese man who fled the conflict in Darfur, Imran Mohammad, a 23-year-old Rohingya who escaped ethnic violence in Myanmar (Burma), and Amir Taghinia, a 24-year-old who fled religious persecution in Iran, give Australians an insight into life on Manus Island through their first-hand accounts.
Inside Manus has been released as part of ‘Untold Australia’, an SBS series in its second season exploring powerful stories of diverse and remote communities. Combining audio recordings from refugees, with hand-drawn animations of scenes behind the fences on Manus Island, the VR documentary acquaints viewers with three men’s home countries and families.
The VR project was produced in conjunction with Hoodlum, Chemical Media and Cutting Edge, with SBS launching ‘Inside Manus’ at the 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival. For more information on Inside Manus, the VR documentary is available now on the SBS VR app.
