SEN, Keisuke Itoh’s new interactive experience, will premiere at Venice Immersive 2023

Mathieu G.

Psychic VR Lab Co. – creator of metaverse app STYLY – and CinemaLeap Co., Ltd. are proud to announce that their joint VR animation project “Sen,” has been nominated for the 80th Venice International Film Festival in the Extended Reality (XR) division “Venice Immersive.”

“Sen” places participants inside a dimly lit tearoom, where they can experience a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. During the 15-minute experience, the audience encounters a magical spirit, taking them on a unique journey of connection and interaction with those around them.

The tea spirit “Sen” arises from the tea bowl in their hands. Initially, “Sen” cautiously gets to know the world but comes to realize the joy of its existence by interacting with various beings. As the beautiful world rapidly changes, “Sen” realizes that there are similar entities in this world besides itself. The connection and interaction with other beings feel pleasant, and it becomes focused on engaging selfishly with the presence before it.

Then, one day, its comfortable world is suddenly destroyed by a great fire. Losing everything, “Sen” falls into the tea bowl, and its existence dissolves into particles in the universe. When “Sen” and the participant realize that they coexist with all living things in this world, they notice that their existence has returned to the tea room. And then, ordinary daily life begins again.

Produced by: Psychic VR Lab Co., Ltd. and CinemaLeap Co., Ltd., SEN is directed by Keisuke Itoh. An XR creator and graduate of STYLY’s NEWVIEW School, Itoh has been nominated for the Venice International Film Festival’s XR category for four consecutive years. This is a world-first achievement for any XR creator.

FEATHER premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival in 2019. Then in 2020, BEAT was nominated for the 77th festival as well as Cannes XR. CLAP was nominated in 2021 for the 78th edition followed by TYPEMAN, nominated for the 2022’s 79th Venice International Film Festival’s XR section.

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