The Luxembourg coproduction A Long Goodbye has been recognised at this year’s Venice International Film Festival with the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize, one of three main awards in the immersive film category.
The 35-minute animated film “tells the story of Ida, a 72-year-old pianist living with dementia” that lets viewers “walk in Ida’s shoes,” according to producers.
It was co-produced by Donato Rotunno at Tarantula, along with partners in Belgium and the Netherlands, and directed by Kate Voet and Victor Maes. It was produced with support from the Luxembourg Film Fund.
A Long Goodbye beat out 68 other films from 27 countries, including another Luxembourg co-production, The Great Escape.
The honour was a “great reward for our audiovisual and film sector,” Luxembourg’s culture minister, Eric Thill, said in a press release Sunday.
In recent years, Luxembourg has emerged as an unlikely leader in the immersive film sector, which is sometimes called virtual reality (VR) or extended reality (XR) film.