Renowned for its innovation, for its 30th anniversary this year, the Oldenburg Film Festival has partnered with the MILC Platform and The Film Verdict to take its first virtual steps into the Metaverse. Users can immerse themselves in virtual Oldenburg and its rich history, attend panel discussions and discover a curated collection of films from the festival. Unveiled this September at metaverse.milc.global .
Before the Venice Film Festival began, The Film Verdict had a unique opportunity to have a quick chat with two men, who at the outset couldn’t seem more different, but yet share the same passion and vision: Hendrik Hay, founder and CEO of MILC (Welt der Wunder) and Torsten Neumann, head of the Oldenburg Film Festival.
TFV: Torsten, you head up one of the most independent film festivals dealing with edgy and new filmmakers, as well as established filmmakers from around the world, and Hendrik, you are a born, at heart entrepreneur, who owned and ran televisions stations and now focuses on a vision that includes using micro-licensing utility tokens that allows content owners to have their work be accessible to a global market. The question is, how is that the two of you are sitting down together with TFV for an interview?
Torsten: It seems like we do have a lot in common, and I would say it is mainly our love and passion for the things we’re doing that brings us together. Because it is not that common to find people who share the same ethics in their work, it feels very good to share a common goal with Hendrik, as he is a passionate man who keeps pursuing his dreams and fighting for ideas. I share those ideas. And how do we find the same idea of putting new media and edgy indie filmmaking together? Well, Hendrik’s vision is not designed to marginalize the old media, but only to introduce something that can put things back in balance – with regard to the field of interest I am dealing with, this seems to be the most important issue: the art of cinema is threatened by the ongoing development. Artistic variety has always been the most important detail to keep art and culture alive; what happens in the film industry is actually the opposite. It feels good to have people like Hendrik out there ready to stand strong.
TFV: Hendrik, you are in many ways a visionary. Last year you produced the first Short Film Festival, ALPHA on the Metaverse, in collaboration with The Film Verdict Inc. What was the feedback and how do you measure “success” on such a new platform?
Hendrik: Thank you! The Alpha Film Festival was one of the first festivals in the Metaverse. It was designed to show other festivals the possibilities of a virtual world. We were very impressed with the communication around the event. With around 450 million article impressions, we can assume that this first attempt did not go unnoticed. We were approached not only by other film festivals, such as the Oldenburg Film Festival, but also by other events. The fashion and music industries in particular are working with us on really interesting concepts.
TFV: But Torsten, by and large, you are a “film guy,” how quickly did you embrace the idea of running Metaverse, a parallel festival universe, at the same time as the Oldenburg Film Festival? And how do you think your audience and sponsors will think of it?
Torsten: Of course, every new step into an unknown territory should be considered with care. The Metaverse seems to oppose our goals to keep cinema as a real life experience where people share the same experiences at the same time. But if you look closer, this common experience loaded with emotions rather than algorithms is actually what Hendrik is working on – in a world that will go further into a digital existence, he is bringing real people and real emotions into this other world. His visions go even beyond, because this allows us to think of a new marketplace that is not ruled by only a few corporations, and that marketplace will definitely open up for everything we are standing for: independent cinema, alternative ways of financing and recapitalizing and keeping up a variety of artistic expressions. For the audience, we create an exciting glimpse into the huge possibilities of the new world – even if we put it right beside the real life Festival, we can show the ways of benefitting from one another instead of the opposite. I expect the sponsors to appreciate our collaboration for the same reasons. We are known for taking risks, exploring new ground and surprising our audiences, so strengthening our profile should hopefully also find the support of our partners and sponsors.
Hendrik: The Oldenburg Film Festival presents itself as an innovator. It will attract a new target group and gain importance as a brand in the metaverse scene. We have rebuilt parts of the old town of Oldenburg, as well as the old opera house where the film festival takes place.
In this digital object there are a lot of interactive elements integrated on several levels that the user can click on. There is a lot of exciting content behind this. The user can also watch live events in the main hall, which are produced in Oldenburg and then streamed into the MILC Metaverse
TFV: Hendrik, is this model that is being developed adaptable for other film festivals? Is it a possible turn-key platform for other festivals to consider? What is the advantage for film festivals to consider developing a Metaverse based festival?
Hendrik: The metaverse is nothing more than the transformation of the real world into a 3-dimensional interactive virtual world. Yes, it is a young industry, but there is no doubt that in the future every real event will have a digital twin in the metaverse. Real events today are limited to their physical visitors; their digital twins can invite anyone in the world and expand their audience massively.
Film festivals in particular have the opportunity to move from local to global. It no longer matters where you are, only that you offer great content and interactive experiences to your audience. Yes, the metaverse is still technically a bit limited, but this will change very fast as development moves on. Those who innovate today and start to climb the learning curve will steal today’s relevance from all those who are still waiting.
TFV: Torsten, Some skeptics and critics may ask, “what’s the point or need for a Metaverse film festival” that parallels the actual film festival? In essence, why are you collaborating with Hendrik?
Torsten: If there is one man who can prove that all the concerns of those critics are pointless, I think it is Hendrik. As soon as you learn about the love for detail and the love for including the support of Independence in general that Hendrik and his team bring into their vision of the metaverse, you might agree and decide to take that step to find out yourself. I see huge potential in our collaboration because I see the will to understand each other’s point of view and the will to bring these places together in the best way.
TFV: Hendrik, how can people access or find the “entry” into the Oldenburg Film Festival? And does it cost anything to enter the Oldenburg Metaverse? Also, will the ALPHA Short Film Festival take place again? When?
Hendrik: Just enter www.milc.global and visit our MILC Metaverse. As soon as the Oldenburg-Film Festival starts, you’ll find your way to the event. No, it doesn’t cost anything. The Alpha Film Festival will also return in March 2024, but there will be other film festivals as well.
As a metaverse platform for media and entertainment, we are happy to help anyone who is interested in entering this new, exciting world. Our real vision is to combine everything into one collaborative, fantastic, super-studio, where something happens every day and our audience can be part of everything in our industry. Whoever has something to contribute to this metaverse – media – theme park, is cordially invited.
TFV: Torsten, we’ll give you the last word. What do you hope is the outcome of launching the Metaverse Oldenburg Film Festival?
Torsten: I hope that we can raise awareness for our topics and that we can open up the path of new business ideas. Also, for the film industry we are aiming to challenge the huge grey area of digital screenings with regard to the premiere status of films that are presented – a virtual cinema with a limited amount of seats and a limited time for a screening should be considered in the same way a festival screening is considered anywhere on the planet. It can only be addressed towards its very own territory, even if people from 20 other countries/territories are attending the screening. This is of significant importance for the film industry and has not at all been addressed until now. Hendrik and I want to engage the industry towards rethinking, because if we take it with their own rules: the Metaverse is its own new territory that wouldn’t even harm the status of a World Premiere for films. As soon as you look into the rules of fundings and also the rules suggested by the FIAPF for films and their premiere status, you will see that this topic is by far not only a vanity topic. This is connected in many ways sometimes to a bit of a suppressive system that keeps certain films under the radar and others not. It is time to reconsider this!
Note: The Film Verdict Inc,. the corporate entity which owns The Film Verdict llc. is a partner with MILC to develop metaverse platforms that serve the international film industry and a strategic partner with The Oldenburg Film Festival with regard to the Metaverse.
Watch the highlights from the first Alpha Film Festival.
