In the C21st, our relationship with reality has become increasingly informed by developments in virtual worlds. Adele Tulli’s documentary examines our digital dependence through a cast of characters who live chronically online. A man in Seoul delivers food for an app and live streams his shift from his bike, a young woman strips on a live chat before performing a song for her followers, and a group of influencers commit to moving on from uploading videos with varying levels of conviction…
Tulli exploits the modern world’s ubiquitous cameras to explore multitudes of visual modes and lenses: phones, CCTV, 360° stereoscopic cameras, webcams, and drones. The uncanny world below a 3D city in Google Earth is matched with the alien, geometric landscapes inside the eyes of a robot vacuum. While Real sounds like an elegy for a simpler time, a finale at a genderqueer rave in a VR nightclub questions whether technology is a barrier to connection or a bridge to a deeper shared experience.
Media Partner
Italy/France
2024
In English, German, Korean and Italian with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Valeria Adilardi, Laura Romano
Producer
Agostino Saccà, Valeria Adilardi, Laura Romano, Luca Ricciardi, Mauro Vicentini
Screenwriter
Adele Tulli
Cinematography
Clarissa Cappellani, Francesca Zonars
ANIM
Gianluca Abbate
Editor
Ilaria Fraioli, Adele Tulli
Original Music
Andrea Koch
Adele Tulli
Born in Rome in 1982, Adele Tulli is a film director and researcher, exploring innovative documentary forms and essayistic film practices. Following an MA in Documentary at Goldsmiths and a PhD in Audiovisual Studies at Roehampton University, she also teaches non-fiction and experimental cinema. Tulli’s works have been screened and exhibited internationally at the Berlinale, the Lincoln Center in NY, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, and the ICA in London, among others.
Filmography: 365 Without 377 (2011); Rebel Menopause (2014); Normal (2019)
Photo by Alessandro Crinari
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.