apocalypse

MMF MMXXIV: SIMONE FIORENTINO


We are excited to present Simone Fiorentino’s Hold on for Dear Life at the 2024 edition of the Milan Machinima Festival.

Featured in the Made in Italy program on March 15, 2024, Hold On for Dear Life by Simone Fiorentino delves into themes of empathy and the innate human ability to connect even under the most challenging conditions. Set within the confines of an unnamed city scarred by conflict, this machinima compellingly illustrates the resilience required to maintain one’s core identity amidst turmoil. The story unfolds around a young man, his loyal dog, and his unique friend Jean-Michel, notable for his absence of a nose, as they endeavor to maintain a semblance of normalcy in their chaotic environment. Fiorentino’s film is dedicated to offering an authentic depiction of life in war-impacted zones, focusing on both the individual and communal adversities encountered by those living there. Through an intimate narration, the filmmaker seeks to bridge the gap between the audience and the stark realities of warfare, shedding light on its profound effects on personal lives and community bonds. The choice of a 4:3 aspect ratio does more than pay homage to classical visual styles; it intentionally magnifies the deeply personal survival tales and the critical support networks that prove indispensable during these trying times.

Created under the supervision and tutorship of Andrea Gatopolous, Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis, Leonhardt Muellner and Robin Klengel during a residency in Rome in 2023, Simone Fiorentino’s Hold On for Dear Life has received widespread acclaim, evidenced by its recognition and selection at renowned film festivals across the globe. The film was shortlisted for the 62nd Semaine de la Critique at the Festival de Cannes, a testament to its international acclaim. It made its world premiere at the 46th Drama International Short Film Festival in Greece, marking the beginning of its journey through the global film circuit. Hold On for Dear Life met the qualifications for both the Academy Awards and the European Film Awards, with notable screenings at the 39th Interfilm Berlin in Germany and the 39th Videoformes International Festival in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Its Russian premiere took place at the 33rd Message To Men Festival in Saint Petersburg, followed by its German premiere at the 29th Filmfest Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany, underscoring its resonance in various cultural settings.The film was also an official selection at the 10th Linoleum Animation Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, further highlighting its broad appeal. Its screening at the Milan Machinima Festival signifies the film’s Italian premiere.

Born in Palermo, Italy in 1995, Simone Fiorentino is a Sicilian screenwriter, film director and music composer. In addition to Hold on for Dear Life, he wrote, directed and composed two additional short films, I saw our future in an orb, 2021, Together, 2018. He also recorded one music album, with the art name silly blu.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

ARTICLE: THE MACHINIMA OF ATTRACTIONS

VRAL is currently showcasing Regression 4, Jordy Veenstra’s latest installment in his ongoing monumental investigation of San Andreas. To accompany the screening, we are delighted to present Experience, a 2021 machinima developed with a playable simulation titled Virtual Rides III.

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Jordy Veenstra’s collaborative machinima project Experience transports viewers into the lush, vibrant world of Pixelsplit’s Virtual Rides III (2017). Developed over two years alongside the game’s creators, this experimental short film leverages the malleable possibilities of virtual spaces to construct a heightened cinematic reality. Experience represents Veenstra’s most ambitious and imaginative machinima project to date, recasting a familiar carnival setting as an avant-garde spectacle. Through kaleidoscopic colors, impossible camera angles, and hypnotic motion, the film redefines the sensory possibilities of interactive environments. This is the polar opposite of ONRIDE’s dystopian attraction.

From its opening shots gliding over the fairgrounds, Experience signals its intent to revel in the limitless perspectives unique to simulations. The camera swoops and pans across the setting, freed from physical restraints to showcase the scale and details of the space. Tracking shots follow the coasters’ winding motions, abstracting them into studies of shape and texture. Veenstra describes this disembodied viewpoint as “exceeding audience expectations”, leveraging the machinima format to highlight aspects of the world beyond what players see. The cinematography foregrounds sensory experience, allowing time to appreciate the setting’s rich sights and sounds.

This immersive effect stems from Veenstra’s custom augmentation of Virtual Rides III’s assets, part of his “practice of distortion” for enhancing game environments. Wildly colorful and asymmetric patterns adorn each ride, evoking an imaginative, pataphysical mood. Typography and pop culture images further transform the familiar carnival into an otherworldly realm. As Veenstra explains on his website, this surreal digital set...

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Matteo Bittanti


Works cited

Jordy Veenstra

Experience

digital video (1280 x 544, aspect ratio: 2:35), color, sound (Stereo, -14LUFS), 9’ 20”, 2021, The Netherlands

Produced by Pixelsplit and A Pixelated Point of View

Made with Virtual Rides III, Pixelsplit, 2017

Mods: Freecam adjustment by Pixelsplit

Film Score: FEX.

All images and videos courtesy of Jordy Veenstra

This is a Patreon exclusive content. For full access consider joining our growing community.

ARTICLE: LIBERTY CITY’S EXTERNALITIES

VRAL is currently showcasing Regression 4, Jordy Veenstra’s latest installment in his ongoing monumental investigation of San Andreas. To accompany the screening, we are delighted to present Collateral Damage, an experimental machinima developed with/in Grand Theft Auto IV.

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Jordy Veenstra’s re-edited version of his machinima short Collateral Damage utilizes the open world of Grand Theft Auto IV as a canvas for an experimental narrative that defies expectations. Originally created in 2012 as a more traditional crime story, the 2018 cut runs just 2 minutes but packs a provocative punch. Veenstra transforms the possibilities afforded by Rockstar Games sandbox into an avant-garde work that challenges both artistic and gameplay conventions. Through innovative editing and a focus on psychological tension, Collateral Damage provides a mature reflection on violence and chaos within the criminal underworld.

As a machinima created using assets from Grand Theft Auto IV, Collateral Damage immediately cues certain expectations about the chaotic, crime-ridden nature of Rockstar’s fictional Liberty City. However, Veenstra subverts these themes right from the start. The opening shots follow two men driving through the rainy night time streets not on some criminal escapade, but engaged in muted conversation. One man seems to be confiding in the other about being framed by an acquaintance. Veenstra then cuts to the interior of a nondescript apartment, where the atmosphere grows increasingly tense and surreal between the two men. Extreme close-ups, off-kilter angles, and disjointed editing introduce visual disorientation and psychological friction. Strange flashes fill the screen at key moments, suggesting internal turmoil. Rather than depicting high-octane gameplay action, these oblique sequences focus on building an atmosphere of brooding unease.

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Matteo Bittanti


Works cited

Jordy Veenstra

Collateral Damage

digital video, color, 1’ 58”, 2012/2018, The Netherlands

made with Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar Games, 2008

Mods: Rockstar Editor, by Rockstar Games; Simple Trainer by sjaak327

All images and videos © Jordy Veenstra 2022

This is a Patreon exclusive content. For full access consider joining our growing community.

ARTICLE: FROM DUSK TILL DAWN

VRAL is currently showcasing Regression 4, Jordy Veenstra’s latest installment in his ongoing monumental investigation of San Andreas. To accompany the screening, we are delighted to present DUSK, a second experimental machinima created with/in Left 4 Dead 2 that evokes the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world.

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Like ONRIDE, Jordy Veenstra’s experimental machinima short DUSK utilizes game assets from Valve’s Left 4 Dead series to vividly capture the haunting atmosphere of a zombie apocalypse. Clocking in at just forty-five seconds, this machinima displays a remarkable level of technical artistry and emotional resonance. The Dutch filmmaker originally conceived of DUSK as a simple technical exercise, but soon realized the potential for a more fully realized artistic work. The resulting film succeeds both as an experiment in pushing the boundaries of machinima as a medium, and as a self-contained narrative that provides commentary on the human condition in dire circumstances.

Visually, DUSK immerses the viewer in a world overrun by zombies through its expert use of Source Filmmaker. The setting itself is instantly recognizable to fans as the finale of Left 4 Dead Dark Carnival campaign, but the moody lighting and haze of smoke and embers transform the familiar truck depot into a hellish landscape. Backlit by flames and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, the decrepit industrial space takes on a nightmarish quality. When the two staggering zombies enter the frame, they blend in with their surroundings, reduced to anonymous ghouls in a sea of undead. The shadows and silhouette effects reinforce the ambiguity between the living and the living dead, evoking the collapse of civilization itself.

From a technical perspective, Veenstra’s mastery of Source Filmmaker is on full display. The smooth camera movements, use of depth of field, and detailed lighting reveal a deep understanding of cinematic techniques. The sweeping camera zoom from inside the car to a close-up of the zombies creates visual tension and a sense of voyeuristic dread. Veenstra also effectively repurposes game assets like particle effects and audio to heighten the ominous atmosphere. The moans and screams of zombies layered into the soundscape make the setting feel alive despite the lack of visible undead hordes.

Beyond impressive technical execution, DUSK contains deeper metaphorical resonances related to the human condition. The zombies represent humanity reduced to its basest impulses: anonymous, lumbering vessels driven only by hunger. Devoid of personality or purpose beyond consumption, they haunt the landscape like ghouls. Meanwhile, the abandoned truck stop evokes the remnants of civilization, now just an empty shell inhabited by the undead. On his personal website A Pixelated Point of View, Veenstra described this setting as a “limbo between the stages of death, alive and infected,” suggesting that the zombies are not monsters, but rather the inevitable endpoint of human existence in the apocalypse. The film’s nightmarish atmosphere leaves a lasting impression of dread about both the zombie genre and humanity’s impermanence.

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Matteo Bittanti


Works cited

Jordy Veenstra

DUSK

digital video (1280 x 536), color, sound, 45”, 2022, The Netherlands

DUSK’s soundtrack is solely made with SFX from Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve Software, 2009).

Resources and mods:

Left 4 Dead, Valve Software, 2008

Left 4 Dead 2, Valve Software, 2009

Source Filmmaker, Valve Software, 2012

All images and videos © Jordy Veenstra 2022

This is a Patreon exclusive content. For full access consider joining our growing community.

EVENT: MARTINA MENEGON (SEPTEMBER 30 - AUGUST 13 2022, ONLINE)

when you are close to me I shiver

video recording of live simulation

digital video/machinima (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 7’ 47”, 2020, Italy

Created by Martina Menegon

Sound design by Alexander Martinz

when you are close to me I shiver is an algorithmically controlled live simulation, hereby presented as a video recording, that is, a real-time generated virtual experience that takes place in a version of the future in which humans, out of desperation, gather in masses on the last remaining piece of land. Inspired by the walrus scene in the documentary Our Planet narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Silverback Films, the project proposes a scenario encompassing ongoing environmental and personal crises. The video depicts a desolated island populated by 3D-scanned clones of the artist herself. Through these perceivable avatars, the artist creates a new identity that arises out of plurality, proprioceptively renegotiating the fragility of both the physical and the virtual self and its realities.

Martina Menegon (Italy, 1988) is an artist working predominantly with Interactive and Extended Reality Art. In her works, Martina creates intimate and complex assemblages of physical and virtual elements that explore the contemporary self and its phygital corporeality. She experiments with the uncanny and the grotesque, the self and the body and the dialogue between physical and virtual realities, to create disorienting experiences that become perceivable despite their virtual nature.

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