FullDome Festival Jena

Announcing the winners of the 2024 FullDome Festival, live at the IPS-conference in the Zeiss-Planetarium Jena.
Reading of jury statements. JANUS-sculptures handed over to winners.

JANUS-Award Winners. Announced 19 July 2024
 

The jury of the 18th Jena FullDome Festival:

Dan Tell (USA)

Michaela French (GB / Australia)

Ralph Heinsohn (Germany)

Audio Jury: Joshua Hagedorn (Germany)
 

Decisions witnessed and confirmed 17 May:

Kate Ledina (FullDome Festival)

Micky Remann (FullDome Festival)
 

Nominees from 8 countries, announced 18th FullDome Festival, 25 May:

Germany

UK

Mexico

Spain

USA

France

Sweden

Canada

9 JANUS-Award Winners from 6 countries, announced 19 July, Special IPS FullDome Festival:

UK

USA

France

Sweden

Canada

Germany

Jury Statements for the JANUS-Award winners 2024

01 Best Fulldome Short 

Recoding Entropia. By François Vautier, France 

Compared to other audiovisual media, Fulldome experiences always demonstrate their particular strength best by drawing their audience into depth of perception using clever spatial image compositions and perspectives. They make complex structures comprehensive and, above all, sensually perceptible. Creating such a convincing immersive experience with a strong aesthetic concept and visual strategy, a balanced rhythm and harmonic audio design in a fulldome short is a great artistic challenge. Recording Entropia succeeds in combining all these stylistic elements into a strong narrative that overwhelmingly captivates the audience.  

02 Best Fulldome Feature

Secrets from a Forest, By Jim Brandenburg, USA

Often, as we contemplate the infinity of the cosmos and wonder of the stars in the dome theater, do we lose ourselves in vastness and the feeling of Earth as a small speck in the Universe. Secrets from a Forest reminds us of the enormity of our own world, the interwoven lives and communities that grow in the forests around us. This unique story invites us to feel our connection to our fellow earthlings in surprising ways. Exceptional live-action footage and resonant audio blend the voices of nature and human artistry together, reminding us of our inextricable reliance on the living beings of the forest and how our hearts and souls can sing together.

03 Best Fulldome Science 

Spark: The Universe in Us, By Ryan Wyatt, Matt Blackwell, USA

If the question was how to communicate science in the fulldome medium the appropriate and exciting way: here is the convincing answer. The show is fascinating on many levels – amongst many means especially by the stunning visualizations and elegance of the well-designed and carefully considered camera movements. "Spark" not only shows the production team's expertise in producing "fulldome moments", but is particularly strong when it reaches out to public audiences (instead of fulldome experts) that are not familiar with the world of science. Clever details, such as the decision to explain scales and sizes in a human-centered way and to integrate them repeatedly into the ongoing plot, prove to be particularly convincing. 

04 Best Art and Experiment 

I Saw The Future. By François Vautier, France

Combining an artfully edited historical recording with stylish visual aesthetics and innovative 360° animation, this film is a confronting provocation that commands our attention. Based on the speculative future predicted by 20thC science fiction author Arnold C. Clarke, this powerful film brings a heightened awareness to our limited ability to see and/or imagine beyond a relatively short temporal horizon. This immersive experience is imbued with a polarity that shifts between excitement and terror as underlying questions about our relationships with technology, our endless drive for progress and the future of humanity emerge. 

05 Best Fulldome New Talent 

Bad Trip. By Emese Pálovics, Bianca Faddi, Hungary

 The dome theater is a transportative environment and fulldome films have long explored the ability of the medium to take us elsewhere in reality with scientific data, and into imagined worlds of artists’ visions. Such immersion also has great potential to invite us into the world of subjective experience–often exploring the positive aspects of a psychedelic experience. In contrast, Bad Trip evokes a negative experience, composing an unsettling domescape of an inner world of pain and discomfort. Inventive animation and poetic narration explore the ability of the medium to build empathy and connection–between each other, and with ourselves–even through darkness and pain.

06 Best Fulldome Education

Chemistry of Life. By Anna Öst, Drew Berry. Sweden

Many programs for the dome have explored the microcosmos, taking us down to the cellular and molecular level to explore the chemical basis of biology, or the infinitesimal world of the subatomic. Chemistry of Life stands out, beautifully breaking down the science at a comfortable level for a general audience, while keeping the narration moving at an inviting, entertaining pace. Stunning visuals explore the molecular basis of both plant and animal life on our planet, while also explaining how we know what we know through scientific tools and processes. All these elements combine into one of the most fun and educational chemistry lessons we’ve ever seen.

07 Best Fulldome Innovation 

Total Eclipse: Chasers of the Lost Sleep. By François Guinaudeau, Sébastien Samyn, Canada  

The fulldome production community knows about (and is sometimes worn out of) the challenges of designing shows that meet the big variety of planetarium requirements and standards. From show duration, dome orientation (horizontal or tilted), the sheer amount of scientific facts, the appropriate language, the technical requirements of image production, the use of actors and characters to the choice of visual style and the best audio. "Total Eclipse" not only manages to master these conceptual and formal challenges with ease, it also dares to explore new paths, aesthetic perspectives and surprising styles. Fulldome family entertainment is rarely this pleasantly crazy, funny, innovative and at the same time aesthetically well handcrafted. 

08 Special Jury Award

The Voyage of Arka Kinari. By Janire Najera ans Matt Wright, United Kingdom

Contemporary fulldome experiences commonly invite audiences to journey outward to the realms of deep space and imagined digital realities. The Voyage of Arka Kinari offers a beautiful counterpoint to these narratives, taking us on an earthbound documentary adventure with seafaring artist-explorers and musicians Filastine & Nova. As the film follows this extraordinary eco-art project around the globe from conception through to realisation, it reveals the impact individuals, imaginative ideas, creativity, passion, courage and persistence can generate in our world.

09 Fulldome Audio Award

Into the Microverse. Journey through the Amazing World of Microbes. By Raúl Erdossy, Hendrik Huthoff, Germany

The Spatial Audio track of "Into the Microverse" scored with its idea and realisation and was ranking highest of all the audio entries for me.

From the concept to the technical realisation, almost everything was right. The sound design and spatial mix were particularly convincing. Speech, music and effects were professionally realised and create a plausible listening experience at a high level. 

Watch the recording of the livestream here, followed by the special cc2 performance: