‘MURALS’ Takes Home Audience Award for Best Art and XR at BFI London Film Festival 2023

An international effort, the immersive exhibition ‘MURALS’ has been awarded a London Film Festival (LFF) Audience Award for Best Art and XR.

The award celebrates the best of the work from this year’s LFF Expanded category; a cutting edge collection at the forefront of screen technology. ‘MURALS’ was one of 14 projects from around the world, showcased across London during the festival. 

 

Directed by Aggressive’s Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro, the innovative work places viewers face to face with the war’s devastation in Ukraine, and brings to life the sites of Banksy’s murals there. Told via 3D scanning technologies and Unreal Engine, ‘MURALS’ follows stories of the lives lost, whilst simultaneously highlighting the strength of perseverance, resilience, and hope. 

‘MURALS’ is the result of international creative collaboration, spearheaded by Ukrainian 3D artist and creative Artem Ivanenko, after he used 3D scanning to capture the realities of the devastation caused by war in his hometown of Irpin. 

The experience was produced by Poland based Radosława Bardes (ATM Virtual) and Maciej Żemojcin (PixelRace), Ukraine’s Mriya Production, and Sten Kristian Saluveer from Estonia. Spain’s Tigrelab handled art direction and CG/Unreal animation. You can read more about how the project came together here.

‘Murals’ was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute and backed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture. 

‘MURALS’ premiered on May 18th at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Alex Topaller, Director, Aggressive commented, "It’s hard to comment on an award received for a project that highlights on-going war and suffering; but for our team it’s an incredible honour to receive this attention and support from BFI and the audience – a win for ‘Murals’, is a win for Ukraine, and a win for Ukraine, is a win for all of us.”