Ôl | Haunts is the first Welsh-language virtual reality work selected for competition at the Venice International Film Festival, marking a major milestone for Welsh immersive storytelling.
Selected for the Immersive Category at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, Ôl | Haunts takes audiences on a nostalgic journey back to 2006 – twenty years on. The work will be presented on Venice Immersive Island from 2-12 September, marking its international premiere. It is one of just 68 immersive experiences from around the world selected for this year’s programme.
Before travelling to Venice, Ôl | Haunts will also be showcased throughout the week on the National Library’s stand at this year’s National Eisteddfod, Wales’ largest arts and culture festival, which will be taking place in North Pembrokeshire between August 1-8.
The bilingual experience has been made possible through the Wales Broadcast Archive, a National Library of Wales project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Welsh Government and is a Wales Millennium Centre, Pilot Theatre and Dreaming Methods co-production, developed in collaboration with the National Library of Wales.
Narrated by Welsh stars, Callum Scott-Howells (It’s a Sin), in English and Steffan Donnelly in Welsh, audiences are transported to Llanberis, a rural former slate town in Gwynedd, North Wales, on the cusp of a new world where Twitter has just been launched and young people are quickly getting used to a society where social media and technology are beginning to take hold.
The title and concept calls to the nostalgia that co-directors, Lucy Hammond and Tom Chetwode-Barton, wanted to evoke in audiences with a haunt referencing an experience that resonates deeply with our youth and the places, people and music that stay with us long into our adulthood.
Speaking on being selected for Venice International Film Festival, co-director Lucy Hammond said: “It’s incredibly exciting seeing Ôl | Haunts being recognised on an international level.
“Seeing immersive work being celebrated at the world’s oldest film festival shows just how powerful it can be as a form of storytelling; we hope that it’ll evoke the same feelings of nostalgia in global audiences as it has done for audiences back at home.”
Imagery of the youth culture of the time is set against the backdrop of the dark slate mountains and quarries of the area’s industrial past and a narration written by Tom Chetwode-Barton, a BAFTA-nominated writer-director based in Anglesey, whose work often explores themes of class, regional culture, mythology and gender.
Writer and co-director Tom Chetwode-Barton said: “It’s fantastic to see Welsh language immersive work being recognised on this stage. We hope it helps shine a light on the creativity and talent coming out of Wales and shows how immersive storytelling can connect with audiences everywhere.”
The production comes as part of Wales Millennium Centre’s wider commitment to creating new work within the immersive field and supporting Welsh artists.
David Massey, Creative Technology and Storytelling Senior Producer at Wales Millennium Centre, said: “Ôl | Haunts reflects our ongoing commitment to developing immersive work and supporting the artists creating it, in Wales and beyond.
“Immersive storytelling is an increasingly important part of our programme at Wales Millennium Centre, and we continue to invest in new work in this space – through the annual Annwn Prize, and through new commissions, including a co-production coming to our 2027 season that does exactly this.”
Wakefield-based VR studio, Dreaming Methods (Judi Alston and Andy Campbell) led on the concept development and the immersive creative.
With music by Welsh artists Super Furry Animals, John Cale and High Contrast, Ôl | Haunts takes audiences on a multi-sensory journey, combining theatre, virtual landscapes and archive footage drawn from the National Library of Wales’ Wales Broadcast Archive – which brings together extensive material from BBC Cymru Wales, ITV Cymru Wales and S4C.
