News

2025.3.7

The VR documentary ⟪Fly to You⟫, produced by the Art & Technology Lab (AT Lab) at the Korea National University of Arts (President: Kim Dae-jin), has been officially invited to the 32nd South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival, under the XR Experience Spotlight category.

SXSW is an annual festival and conference that takes place every spring in Austin, Texas, USA, and spans music, film, and interactive media. Within this context, the XR division highlights some of the world’s most innovative and groundbreaking works. This year, ⟪Fly to You⟫ was selected as the only Korean entry in the XR category.

⟪Fly to You⟫ is a VR documentary that explores the painful story of separated families during the Korean War. It centers on the grandmother Gangsong, who has lived for over 70 years without knowing the fate of her sister, Sae-bye. Through her heartfelt letter to her sister, the work reconstructs in 3D both the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)—a space normally off-limits to civilians—and unreachable North Korean landscapes using NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) technology. This immersive visualization of long-lost hometowns and loved ones invites the audience on a journey that transcends time and borders.

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Following accolades such as the Best Narrative Award at the 2024 Raindance Film Festival, and official invitations to the 2024 Ars Electronica and Kaohsiung International Film Festivals, ⟪Fly to You⟫ now heads to SXSW as a significant Korean representative in immersive storytelling. The project is directed by Song Young-yoon, a graduate of the university’s School of Film, TV & Multimedia.

Director Song commented, “I am deeply grateful to the team that has been with me for a long time, and to everyone who supported us. I hope this story resonates in the moment it blooms.”

Lee Seung-moo, Director of the AT Lab, added, “As technology evolves, methods of content creation are rapidly changing. It is AT Lab’s mission and aspiration to empower students to harness cutting-edge technologies to express their imagination in new and unrestricted ways.”

The AT Lab at Korea National University of Arts serves as a research and production hub for converging science, technology, culture, arts, industry, and education. The lab has received multiple prestigious awards, including the Best Immersive Media Award at the Raindance Film Festival and the Best Technology Innovation Award at the Sandbox Festival. In addition, it has been designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency as a lead institution for the 2024 Global Culture Technology (CT) Professional Training Project and the Content One-Campus Construction and Operation Support Project.