ONCE A GLACIER

Once a Glacier is a VR narrative experience about a young girl and her relationship with a glacier. As the girl grows older, the piece of ice is threatened, and the viewer is taken on a journey through her seemingly futile efforts to protect what was once an entire glacier. The story is inspired by Jiabao Li’s own experience from a year that she lived in Alaska, where she was the young girl protecting a piece of ice in the freezer. In Inupiaq tradition, a tribe of indigenous people from northwestern Alaska, glaciers carry memories from the past and communicate them in song. The climate crisis has become a terrifying reality that includes seeing the end of glaciers—the end of these sung histories—happen right in front of our eyes. Once a Glacier shows a gesture of nurturing, and whether the girl’s efforts are successful or not, the work suggests a poignant level of grace and humility for moving forward into the future.

HOW TO ACCESS THE EXPERIENCE

You will be able to access the experience on Viveport and in VRChat. For Viveport you will need a VR ready PC and a compatible PC VR headset such as Quest + Link, Valve Index, Rift/Rift S, Vive/Vive Pro/Vive Pro2 and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

The experience will also have a custom made virtual world in VRChat. The link to the world will be posted here when the festival commences.

CREDITS

Writer and Director: Jiabao Li

Executive/Creative Producer: Jenny Qinya Guo

VR Artist: Denis Semenov

3D Artist: Kirill Klochkov

Sound Artist: Matt McCorkle

Poet: Joan Naviyuk Kane

Illustration: Boxiang Yu

Grandma Voice-over: Carolyn Nahyoumaurak

Girl Voice-over: Annika Schmidt

Line Producer: Cooper Galvin

Narrative climate fiction | Runtime: 10 mins | Platforms: Viveport and VRChat | Compatible headsets: Quest + Link, Rift/Rift S, Vive/Vive Pro/Vive Pro 2, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets

Award nominations: Best Immersive Experience, Best Immersive Experience for Social Impact, Discovery Award: Best Debut