Virtual Success for the 3rd Annual MaMachinima Festival

Once again, producers, performers, and supporters gathered together for a world-wide screening of machinima in all its forms.  The MaMachinima Festival ran Saturday, June 18 to Sunday, June 19 (Friday/Saturday, RL) in Second Life at The Linden Endowment of the Arts Theatre.   This screening is extremely critical in that it celebrates the depth and breadth of machinima, in all its styles and production platforms.   Chantal Harvey (above), founder and CEO of the MaMachinima International Festival (MMIF), is instrumental to the coordination of this real life, real time event in Amsterdam as well as in Second Life.   Amsterdam, as a RL mecca for machinima, has become pivotal as a location for the annual screenings, with Chantal having worked as a filmmaker there during her career.  

But also this festival speaks to the artistic potential of the film form, machinima in and of itself, given that Northern Europe has had a long tradition of forwarding art through new technologies.  Overall, more than 50 short films were featured.  The producers came to center stage to discuss their motivations behind their machinima stories and their technology practices to their fellow filmmakers and viewers internationally.   

It was good to see machinimists Phaylen Fairchild, Pooky Amsterdam (and her associates), Toxic Menges, Al Peretz, AnimaTechnica Ataro Asbrink, Cecil Hirvi, jjcc coronet, Flimsey Freenote, Hypatia Pickens, Kate Fosk, Larkworthy Antfarm, spyVspy Aeon, and others on stage and/or among the filmmakers in the audience.  

I attended, along with Machinima Artist Guild Founder Lowe Runo, to see the works of so many good and talented people who have helped to mature the art and practice of machinima, and in doing so we hoped to pay tribute to those who contributed to our forthcoming book on machinima this fall.   

 The MMIF was a virtual feast of all genres of machinima, showcasing hours of films made through Second Life, but a significant portion of the festival was dedicated to those machinima made through Moviestorm and iClone.    The audience loved it all - no matter the platform!

MMIF is a reference point for those interested in machinima filmmaking.  The selections capture the range of machinima’s potential as a technology and storytelling agent. So many stories came to life during the festival, projected on the big screens within the beautiful LEA dome theater as the viewers immersed themselves into the visual treats before them.    

 Breathtaking and credible, to hilarious and engaging, so much talent in one room – thanks Chantal and your crew for making this possible.  I have no reservations saying, "no Buts about it, a wonderful event" - once again!!!

  

And special thanks to Aview.TV founder for being supportive of machinima.

For more information about the annual event and other machinima activities sponsored  by Chantal Harvey, refer to the organizational site at http://MMIF.org.

Kudos to all involved!  Look for more pics in the July issue of Best of SL Magazine :)  Soni

Forthcoming, Machinima: The Art & Practice (working title, McFarland, 2011) by Sonicity Fitzroy and Lowe Runo. The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to Aview.TV/Sonicity/