Interviews

Interview: Caleb Slain – Marshall from Detroit (VR Documentary)

Published on March 25, 2019

Despite its crumbling infrastructure and economic woes, there is vast nook and cranny beauty and nocturnal serenity to be found in Detroit via Caleb Slain’s VR Documentary Marshall from Detroit. With its rich tapestry and blue collar Americana imprint, Slain provides a visual exploration of hometown admiration, memory imprint and backdrop inspiration via Motor City and lyricist motormouth who has championed the city and made it his adoptive home. Premiering in Sundance’s New Frontier section, the 3D 360-degree virtual reality short saw Slain work with VR factory experts in Félix Lajeunesse & Paul Raphaël in conjunction with Facebook’s Oculus. We discussed how he landed the project, what he brought to the project and some of the technical and creative detail treatment for the piece. You can watch the film on the Oculus VR app or the Oculus store on Rift. Headset required!

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).