Today Anagram, the award-winning studio that brought you the Venice Immersive Grand Jury Prize-winning Goliath: Playing with Reality, along with co-producers Floréal and France Télévisions, have announced that Academy Award-winning Actor Tilda Swinton, will narrate the second installment in the PLAYING WITH REALITY collection, IMPULSE.
IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY is an interactive mixed reality documentary by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy that explores ADHD and how you make sense of the world around you, told through the stories of four people coming to terms with the decisions which have chartered their lives.
IMPULSE will have its World Premiere as part of the 2024 Venice Immersive program at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. This is Swinton’s second consecutive time narrating for Anagram’s mental health collection. She previously narrated Goliath, which had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in 2021.
We are so excited to welcome Tilda Swinton back to our PLAYING WITH REALITY collection for IMPULSE. Tilda brings such an affecting presence to the experiences, gracefully guiding audiences through each individual narrative. Whether or not you’ve experienced stories similar to those told in Impulse firsthand, Tilda leaves you with a kernel of understanding.
IMPULSE co-director May Abdalla
Swinton previously narrated 2021’s Goliath, which explored one man’s experience of psychosis. Goliath went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work at the 78th Venice International Film Festival (2021) and be nominated for the News & Documentary Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interactive Media Innovation category (2022).
Tilda is not only a titan, but a warm presence. It’s imperative to be presented with something familiar in a work like this. Swinton’s voice and energy is one that delicately frames such personal stories, and we are delighted to have her back on board.
IMPULSE co-director Barry Gene Murphy
The Playing with Reality collection uses a documentary storytelling approach to combine rigorous research with compelling narratives around mental health conditions. The employment of mixed reality plays with the audience’s relationship between the familiar and new, fostering a deeper understanding of mental health conditions. Impulse: Playing with Reality uses work with neuroscientists and psychologists, gathering 100+ hours of interviews on the severe end of the ADHD spectrum, in order to translate these experiences into a resonant story.
What makes ideas real?
Exploring the extreme side of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Impulse brings together sharp-witted gameplay and dramatic first-hand accounts of people whose intense emotions lead them to a life at the edge. Leanne turns her world into a game to escape boredom. Omar’s chaotic mind focuses on mastermining risky heists. Errol creates a madcap persona to get respect. And Tara is on the brink – of giving up.
Their stories are brought home through mixed reality. Attempting to follow a train of thought, the stuff in your room sets off a chain reaction leading to all sorts of mayhem. Shadows on your walls become portals into labyrinthine worlds. Words spiral out into alternative meanings and possibilities.
Highlighting the inner life of ADHD, and the often-dismissed experience of the quiet girls, Impulse focuses on the thrill of acting without thinking and the power of uncovering your own patterns.
IMPULSE synopsis
Check last year discussion we had with the project: Inside Venice Gap Financing 2023: IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY (Anagram, Floréal)
IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY is a new work by Anagram, co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions.
IMPULSE has been supported by Meta VR for Good, France Télévisions, CNC, Agog, City of Paris, and Unity Charitable Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation. IMPULSE was presented at the 2023 Venice Gap-Financing Market and Tribeca Creators Market.
