The Changing Same, Ep.1, a co-production of Rada Film Group and Scatter is an immersive, room-scale virtual reality experience where the participant travels through time and space to witness the connected historical experiences of racial injustice in the United States. A haunting story infused with magical realism and afrofuturism, The Changing Same, Ep.1 examines the uninterrupted cycle of the history of racial oppression, past and present.
Otherly, a series of seven short documentaries about finding one’s place in the 21st century, is the first POV Spark and National Film Board of Canada co-production. Using universal themes like love, inclusion, and loss as entry points, three U.S.-based and four Canadian-based female, non-binary, and genderqueer creators crafted films that are at once timeless and yet by definition of their form, ephemeral. The series, which premiered on Instagram Stories, features the following titles: Joanne Lam’s A Portrait of Tracy, explores the echoes of childhood memory from an immigrant’s perspective: what is lost to time and distance, and what remains (Canada); Elaine Is Almost, by Em Yue, looks at coming out and the unconditional love between siblings (U.S.); FaceTime by Emmy-nominee Jackie! Zhou follows Andy and Farrah Su as they navigate their individual identities, chosen family and relationship as bi-coastal siblings (U.S.); Tristan Angieri’s Integrate.Me explores the use of an experimental therapy to treat Tristan’s PTSD, as they learn to navigate being queer and trans (U.S.); Love Is the First Sacred Lesson is a first-person documentary that follows director Jess Murwin’s journey to connect and reconcile the different parts of their identity: queer, trans, Mi’kmaw (Canada); Mirusha Yogarajah’s Parked: Seeking Refuge in Our Cars, is about a generation of Tamil youth finding freedom and community (Canada); and Papier Accordéon, by character-maker and multidisciplinary artist Grace An captures two friends in different cities spending their time together from a distance (Canada).
Le Frère, a POV Short directed by Jérémie Battaglia, is a story of familial sacrifice and the bonds of brotherhood. Living with an illness that is causing him to lose the use of his body, Kaïs is awoken every morning by a different member of his family. Though paralyzed, he dreams he is the hero of his favorite manga, along with his brothers: Fehd, the bodybuilder and Zaïd, the ninja.
All Webby and Webby People’s Voice Award voting is open from April 5th to Thursday, April 21st, at 11:59 pm PDT, at vote.webbyawards.com; POV titles can be voted for here, here, and here. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 and honored at the in-person 26th Annual Webby Awards on Monday, May 16, 2022 at Cipriani Wall Street.
