The Key, a mysterious virtual reality journey from Lucid Dreams Productions’ director Celine Tricart and producer Gloria Bradbury today announced that they have tapped Alia Shawkat to narrate the experience. Shawkat, best known for her roles on Arrested Development and Search Party, will be the voice to carry audience members through the experience that presents the viewer with moments of intense choice to unlock the mystery of the key.
The Key will world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival as a juried selection in the Immersive Storyscapes category. The interactive virtual reality experience shares a journey through dreams, where Shawkat will guide viewers through four different environments as they face challenging moments prompting them to make difficult and dangerous decisions as they make their way to safety.
“We are thrilled to be working with Alia on “The Key”. With her high attention to detail, she brings the voice we needed to complete this project. Finding the exact quantity of information you need to communicate in a VR experience is tricky. Alia’s voice provides the emotion to balance out the intricate details I’m communicating with the script,” said director Celine Tricart.
“Alia’s background is a great fit for the project and we are impressed by the type of artist she is, well rounded and present. With VR, sound is an important part of the experience, and Alia will deliver the nuances we envision. As someone who strives to empower change for more social fairness and justice, it is clear that the theme of our story resonates with her. Celine and I believe in the beauty and strength of diversity and Alia represents all that.” said producer, Gloria Bradbury.
The Key invites its audience to pursue their own journey into darkness making their way to light. A room-scale interactive experience, The Key holds a special message that is not revealed until the end, when the twists and turns selected by the viewer uncover the past that necessitated making so many difficult and delicate decisions under pressure.
The Key is created and directed by Celine Tricart and produced by Gloria Bradbury, made in partnership with the Oculus VR for Good Creators Lab. The experience will world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Immersive Virtual Arcade with screening beginning Friday, April 26th through Saturday, May 4th. Tickets to experience The Key can be purchased on the festival website HERE.
ABOUT LUCID DREAMS PRODUCTIONS
Lucid Dreams Productions is a production company specializing in new technologies and the future of storytelling. Celine Tricart co-directed and produced Maria Bello’s “Sun Ladies” VR experience about the women Yazidi fighting ISIS in Iraq which world premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and screened at SXSW, HotDocs, Cannes NEXT, Beijing Film Festival and more. For the project, Tricart traveled through ISIS-held territory to meet the women soldiers at the border between Iraq and Syria and record their stories. “Sun Ladies” won Best VR Documentary at the World VR Forum and a Lumiere Award for Best 360 Film. In 2019, Tricart premieres “The Key”, her first room-scale interactive VR experience as part of the Storyscapes competition at the Tribeca Film Festival.
ABOUT OCULUS CREATORS LAB
Creators Lab from Oculus pairs rising filmmakers with nonprofits to use the power of VR to tell stories and help people around the world better understand each other. Through VR, we aim to bring greater awareness to challenges people face around the globe. Now it its third year, Creators Lab projects have debuted around the world with premieres at festivals such as Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival, Sheffield Doc Fest, and Venice International Film Festival. Creators Lab is part of Oculus VR for Good, a broader initiative dedicated to harnessing the power of VR to drive positive social change.