image
 

Yesterday I gave a lecture about my work at the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong.
 

馬樂思 靜影九龍 - Alexey Marfin Kowloon Forest - 大學線 CUHK U-Beat
 

Last month in HK I gave an interview to CUHK U-Beat Magazine / 大學線. We talked about Kowloon Forest and about VR filmmaking in Hong Kong and beyond.
 

Alexey Marfin Workshop at Chulalongkorn University
 

Yesterday I gave a (remote) lecture and workshop for the INDA International Program in Design and Architecture at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok
 

OFCOURSE Shanghai 2021
 

Last weekend I gave an online talk at OFCOURSE in Shanghai. I had the chance to present the “making of” our VR film Kowloon Forest / 靜影九龍.
 
Thank you so much to Jiaqi, Yuzhu, and Paul for the opportunity and for all your hard work!
 

Ars Electronica 2021 Screenshots
 

Our VR Film “Kowloon Forest”/「靜影九龍」 returned to Osage Gallery for a special screening Sep 14-17, as part of the “Garden Hong Kong @ Osage” exhibition – a conclusion of Ars Electronica 2021, Hong Kong Garden.
 

Fiction & Entertainment 2021 Graduation
 

SCI-Arc Graduation 2021!
 

Ars Electronica 2021 Screenshots
 

Yesterday I gave a presentation at the 2021 Ars Electronica festival, as part of the “Hong Kong Garden” program. I presented some behind the scenes content from our VR film Kowloon Forest / 靜影九龍.
 
Thank you to my co-panelists Theodora Barat, Kattie Fan, Jonathan Kemp, Kingsley Ng, Royce Ng, and Alvaro Cassinelli for the great conversation, and to Ann Mak, Yujia Zhang, Lisa Park SoYoung, Elke Reinhuber and Charlie Yip for the organization!
 

VIFF 2021 Immersed Jury
 

Excited to share that this year I will be on the jury for the Vancouver International Film Festival, in the VIFF Immersed Competition! Looking forward.
 

Fiction & Entertainment 2021 Final Screening
 

Some photos from last night’s Fiction & Entertainment 2021 final screening at SCI-Arc with Liam Young.
 
🌟 CONGRATULATIONS 🌟 to our students: Vivian Charlesworth, Emma Koh, Tanita Enderes, Chase Janikowski, Attilio Bonelli, Pablo Lorenzana, Jason Rosen, Andrew Hu, Ben Evans, Saleh Jamsheer, Sinew Zhang, and Jinyong Gao – and thank you for all your incredible hard work!
 
Guest list:
Alisa Tager – President of Film & Television at Anonymous Content and Chief Creative officer of the Los Angeles Media Fund
Oliver Scholl – Production designer for Suicide Squad, Edge of Tomorrow, Independence Day, Spiderman: Homecoming, Venom etc.
Finnian MacManus – Concept Artist for Rougue One, Solo, Ad Astra, Pacific Rim etc
Shepherd Frankel – Production designer for AntMan, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Art Director for Magnolia, Terminator 3 etc
Monica Haley – Head of Human Resources and Recruiting For Blur Studio
Andrew Thomas Huang – Artist and director of films and music videos in collaboration with musicians such as Bjork, FKA Twigs, Serpent with Feet etc
Andrew Leung – Concept artist for Black Panther, Captain America Civil War, Ghost in the Shell, Deadpool, Mulan and many more.
Joao Ribas – Executive Director of LA’s REDCAT Gallery
Richard Enriquez – Director or Production for Halon, NEP Virtual Studios
Rebekah Bukhbinder – Set Designer and art Director for The Mandalorian, Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker, THe Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
John Canning – Executive Producer of New Media and Experimental at Digital Domain Studio
David Wexler – Creative Director and Founder of Strange Loop studios, a production company focused on concert visuals, immersive experiences and music videos.
Rick Farin, Claire Farin – Co Founders of Actual Objects studio
Jordan Long, Matt Glass, Tara Perry – Founders of HCT.media, an Emmy-winning studio focused on feature films, television and documentaries
Ceci Moss – Director and Curator of Gas Gallery, LA
Jen Stein – Designer Researcher with Experimental, Alex Macdowells Worldbuilding Studio
Kevin Dart – Director of Design and Animation studio Chromosphere
Toby Past – Creative Director at Advertising Agency Razorfish
 

Ars Electronica 2021 Alexey Marfin
 

Very happy to announce that I will be a speaker at this year’s Ars Electronica festival, as part of the “Hong Kong Garden” program, on Sep 11 at 2pm HKT/ 8am CET.
 
I will also be screening an excerpt of our VR film Kowloon Forest / 靜影九龍 during the festival.
 


 

Our music video for Forest Swords’ Crow has reached 10 million (!!) views on YouTube.
Truly exciting that so many people have watched our work~
 

Feng Chia Workshop Unreal Engine Robotic Camera
 

Over the past week I taught a (remote) workshop with Shih-Yuan Wang and Yu-ting Sheng in Taiwan, a collaboration between 逢甲大學 Feng Chia University, 國立陽明交通大學 National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and 國立雲林科技大學 YunTech.
 
We developed a custom interface between the ROSO COOP robots and Unreal Engine – using the robot as an intuitive input device for realtime control of virtual cameras within the Unreal Engine scene. Controlling not only camera position/rotation but also focal length, speed, etc. The students then used this platform to create their own short films. All in one week!
 

Kowloon Forest Press
 

…And a selection of press that featured us (both print and online). Incredibly honored to have these opportunities, and grateful for all the journalists, editors, and photographers that I met and spoke to during this process :)
 

Kowloon Forest Posters
 

The different posters from our premieres (in chronological order)
 
Feeling very grateful to have had the opportunity to show Kowloon Forest to so many different audiences :)
 

Kowloon Forest on Oculus TV
 

Big news! Our VR film Kowloon Forest is now available on Oculus TV!
 
好消息!我哋嘅VR電影《靜影九龍》已經發佈在OculusTV!
 

DFIA 2021 Jurors
 

Excited to announce that I will be on the judging panel for the 2021 DFIAwards in Seoul!
 

kowloon forest kaohsiung vr film lab
 

Excited to share some photos from the first few weeks’ screening of Kowloon Forest /「靜影九龍」 at the VR FILM LAB in Kaohsiung, as part of the On Going Home /「往家路上」screening program!
 

Kowloon Forest at Kaohsiung Film Archive VR FILM LAB
 

我哋嘅VR電影《靜影九龍》將會在高雄市電影館「VR體感劇院」進行台灣首映!
 
Our VR film Kowloon Forest will have its Taiwan premiere at the Kaohsiung Film Archive VR FILM LAB!
 

hong kong 1980s hallway test alexey marfin
 

六樓。Another 3D test for a new project.
 

Alexey Marfin Lecture at NYCU
 

Yesterday I gave a (remote) lecture at NYCU (國立陽明交通大學 National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University) in Taiwan!
 

hong kong 1980s door test alexey marfin
 

八十年代港式鐵閘。 3D test for a new project.
 

Alexey Marfin Workshop at NCTU
 

This week I taught a (remote) visual effects workshop at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan!
 


 

Excited to share the work from my “VR Film Sets” seminar at SCI-Arc! The students created VR (virtual reality) environments inspired by movie scenes.
 
Films have always used architecture to tell stories. The worlds, cities, and spaces of cinema are responsible for creating the social, cultural, and political contexts of its screenplays. This year, all the movies we explored share a common design idea: the space and the setting represent a conflict/hierarchy/tension – from “Parasite” (2019) and its socially and physically stratified urban environment – to “Hollywood Hong Kong” (2001) and its literally and figuratively overshadowing tower complexes.
 

Alexey Marfin Workshop at CityU
 

Over the past few weeks I taught a (remote) workshop for the School Of Creative Media MFA program at City University of Hong Kong
 

Kowloon Forest at Vancouver Film Festival - Best Cinematic Live-Action VR
 

Our film ‘Kowloon Forest’ has won ‘Best Cinematic Live-Action VR’ at the Vancouver International Film Festival!
 
我哋嘅VR電影《靜影九龍》在溫哥華國際電影節中獲得最佳實景VR電影獎!
 


 

As part of the Vancouver Film Festival, our VR film “Kowloon Forest” is available on OculusTV, AmazeVR, VeeR, Museum Of Other Realities and Littlstar. Watch at home! 9/24 – 10/7.
 
作為溫哥華國際電影節一部分,我哋嘅VR電影《靜影九龍》已經發佈在 OculusTV,AmazeVR,VeeR,Museum Of Other Realities以及Littlstar。 歡迎大家隨時觀看! 9月24日–10月7日。
 

Kowloon Forest at Vancouver Film Festival
 

Our VR film Kowloon Forest will have its North American premiere at the Vancouver Film Festival!
 
我哋嘅VR電影《靜影九龍》將會在溫哥華國際電影節進行北美首映!
 


 

Join us at SCI-Arc tonight and tomorrow for VR Film Sets II – an interactive exhibition of VR work by my seminar students. The projects take five scenes from period/historical movies, and reimagine them as a series of fully-digital virtual reality (VR) environments.
 


 

Kowloon Forest had a special screening at the Busan Film Festival last weekend, as part of the 2019 Virtual Reality International Forum.
 

Kowloon Forest Korean Poster - 구룡숲 - Busan Film Festival
 

Excited to announce that Kowloon Forest will be screening at the 2019 Busan Film Festival, as part of the Virtual Reality International Forum.
 


 

Some photos from last weekend’s NOWNESS x PHOTOFAIRS screening of ‘Kowloon Forest’ in Shanghai.
 

Kowloon Forest - Nowness - Alexey Marfin
 

This weekend (Sep 20-22) our VR film ‘Kowloon Forest’ is on view at PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, presented by NOWNESS.
 

號外 City Magazine Alexey Marfin Feature
 

I have a 16-page special feature in this month’s issue of 號外 City Magazine. I had the opportunity to share ‘Hong Kong through my eyes’ – talking about…
 

image
 

Some frames from the projects of our 2018-19 Fiction & Entertainment graduates at SCI-Arc…
 

Kowloon Forest - Zolima CityMag
 

Some press in English. Last week I gave an interview to Zolima CityMag, about Kowloon Forest.
 

HK Economic Times - Alexey Marfin interview
 

I gave an interview to the Hong Kong Economic Times / 香港經濟日報. Friends in Hong Kong – check it out in today’s newspaper!
 

Kowloon Forest Premiere
 

My interview with 明周 Ming Pao Weekly is out today! Friends in HK – grab a copy this week!
 

image
 

While I was at Tsinghua, I gave a public lecture about my work and research interests…
 

image
 

Last week I was a visiting tutor at Tsinghua University (清華大学) in Beijing. I taught a course as part of the “2019 Parametric Design Workshop”…
 

Alexey Marfin - Press Photoshoot by Ming Pao Weekly

 
Press photoshoot for Kowloon Forest by Ming Pao Weekly / 明周 at Osage Gallery, Hong Kong. For our exhibition, we collected assorted chairs from Hong Kong alleys and streets…
 

Kowloon Forest RTHK
 

We did a short radio interview with RTHK (香港電台) about Kowloon Forest. They spoke to Shirley on the day of the premiere…
 

Kowloon Forest Premiere
 

Some photos from last friday’s world premiere of Kowloon Forest / 靜影九龍 at Osage Gallery in Hong Kong.
 

Kowloon Forest in Hong Kong Airlines Inflight Magazine
 

If you’re flying with Hong Kong Airlines this month, check out the inflight magazine!
 


 

I will be teaching a workshop at Tsinghua University in Beijing on 13 – 19 July, about designing worlds for cinema and science fiction – invited by Professor Xu Weigo of the Digital Architecture Design Association (DADA).
 

Kowloon Forest - Time Out Hong Kong - Alexey Marfin
 

Kowloon Forest is featured in Time Out Hong Kong! 靜影九龍登上了Time Out HK專題介紹!
 

Kowloon Forest Yivian Alexey Marfin
 

Kowloon Forest is featured in the Chinese VR blog Yivian (映维网)…
 

Kowloon Forest Réalité Virtuelle Alexey Marfin
 

Et maintenant en français! Kowloon Forest is featured in the French VR magazine Réalité Virtuelle…
 

Kowloon Forest UploadVR Alexey Marfin
 

I gave a short interview to UploadVR about our VR film Kowloon Forest…
 

Alexey Marfin Interview - Hong Kong Free Press - Kowloon Forest
 

Excited to announce the trailer for Kowloon Forest 靜影九龍, featured on the front page of the Hong Kong Free Press…
 

Kowloon Forest Osage Gallery Premiere
 

Big news! Excited to share that our new VR film Kowloon Forest will premiere as a solo exhibition at the renowned Osage Gallery in Hong Kong.
 

Sonar Hong Kong Post Industrial Landscapes
 

The work of our Post-Industrial Landscapes CityU visiting school last summer is showing at Sónar Hong Kong 2019, amongst a fantastic lineup of other artists and performers…
 

Toronto Shorts Film Festival
 

Into the Stream has been selected for the 7th Toronto Shorts International Film Festival…
 

Into the Stream Brussels Film Festival
 

Into the Stream has been selected for the 40th Brussels Independent Film Festival! Screening on the closing night…
 

Kowloon Forest VR Poster

 
Excited to share a VR-poster for Kowloon Forest / 靜影九龍! Browse on a phone or tablet for full interactivity…
 

Fiction & Entertainment WIRED Alexey Marfin Liam Young

 
Our 2017/18 graduates’ showreel has been featured in WIRED magazine, written up by the fantastic Bruce Sterling…
 

Fiction & Entertainment 2017-18 Showreel
 

Launching the 2017/18 graduates showreel from our Fiction and Entertainment Masters program at SCI-Arc!
 

image
 

Join us this weekend at SCI-Arc for ‘VR Film Sets’ – an exhibition of VR environments re-imagining movies from the pre-digital age.
 

Poster Alexey Hong Kong CityU

 
I will be giving a talk at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, on Friday 23 November at 4pm, about how cinema shapes our perception of our own world.
 
11月23日星期五下午四點,我將於香港城市大學創意媒體學院舉辦一個關於電影如何塑造我們對世界認知的講座。
 

Birdmen Magazine review of Alexey Marfin's Into the Stream
 

Into the Stream was featured and reviewed in the Italian publication Birdmen Magazine.
 


 

Into the Stream in Italian! We have been selected for the 11th Pentedattilo Film Festival.
 


 

Into the Stream will have its East Coast premiere at the 11th Imagine Science Film Festival.
 

image
 

Join us on Friday August 31st at 7pm for the final screening of our Fiction & Entertainment MA programme at SCI-Arc. We’ll be premiering short films, music videos, interactive installations, and more – the culmination of a year of hard work by our students.
 
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with guests including: Ane Crabtree, costume designer for Handmaid’s Tale; Alex McDowell, worldbuilder and production designer for Fight Club and Minority Report; Claire Evans, artist and lead singer of the band Yacht; Andrew Thomas Huang, artist and director of Bjork’s music videos; Jamin Warren, cofounder of videogame arts and culture company Kill Screen; Brian Merchant, author and editor at VICE Motherboard; Patti Podesta, production designer for American Gods; Ben West, creative director at Framestore LA; Timothy Williams, designer and animator for games film and music videos, and more. See you there!
 

image
 

What does ‘the future’ look like? You could be forgiven for thinking of a neon-lit dense cityscape somewhere in Japan or Hong Kong, during a perpetual rainy night. But why do we have these associations?
 
Join us at SCI-Arc for Visions of the Future’ – an interactive exhibition of new ideas for visions of the future.
 


 

Into the Stream has been selected for the 20th California Independent Film Festival.
 

image
 

Last week I taught at the Post-Industrial Landscapes AA Visiting School in Hong Kong. We created experimental VR scenes, video game environments, and 360° panoramic prints, from 3D scans of Hong Kong…
 

image
 

Join us at SCI-Arc for ‘CGI Film Sets’ – an exhibition of CGI rendered scenes, inspired by six movies from the pre-digital era…
 

sc3_05
 

Chungking Mansions is a 17-story commercial and residential building in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong. Many business owners in Chungking Mansions are South Asians who have been in Hong Kong for generations, reflecting the historical presence of South Asians in HK since the 19th century (when both HK and India/Pakistan were British). A scene in our VR film takes place in Chungking Mansions…
 

smneon1
 

Some CGI production design from our new VR film. Neon signs and Cantopop posters.
 

Alexey Marfin Blue-Eyed Me on Viddsee
 

Viddsee featured our film Blue-Eyed Me!
 

sc3_05
 

Sunday is maids’ day off in Hong Kong, when thousands of domestic helpers (yayas) from the Philippines and Indonesia get a day to themselves. Because the helpers typically live with their employers, it’s difficult to find rest at home. Instead, they domesticate parts of the city – overpasses, public squares, financial buildings – to talk, sing, eat, play cards, dance and relax. We shot a scene for our VR film about this phenomenon…
 

01MKP_4968_outside_sm2
 

A little teaser of what we’ve been working on! Stay tuned.
 


 

Join us on Friday 1st August at 7pm for the final screening of our Fiction & Entertainment MA programme, followed by a panel discussion with guests from Framestore, Sundance, Disney Imagineering, Digital Domain and many others…
 

2b_03
 

Shooting another scene for our new VR film! Thanks to Ming and the rest of the team…
 

ITS_LAURELS_la_sm
 

Our new short film – Into the Stream – will have its premiere at the Oscar-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival! I’m giving a Q&A talk after the screening on Friday 4th August at 3:15pm at the Laemmle Theater in North Hollywood.
 

mbg06
 

Shooting a Korean “mukbang” scene for our new VR film. Thanks to the fantastic Angie and the whole team!
 

sc1_IMG_6810
 

Shooting a scene for a new VR film. Some photos from yesterday’s shoot. Thanks to the super talented Toonyun and the amazing crew for all their hard work.
 

image
 

This week I taught a 2-day VFX & compositing workshop at UCLA, for Benjamin Ennemoser & Guvenc Ozel’s s postgraduate students. Photos from day 2 – compositing live action footage filmed in the Atacama desert.
 


 

Check out our Visual Studies student works exhibition on April 10th and 11th at SCI-Arc!
 


 

Check out our Visual Studies student work exhibition on December 10th and 11th at SCI-Arc!
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me in Korean! We’ve been invited to the 20th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival!
 


 

Full house for last night’s outdoor screening of our students’ films, at SCI-Arc in downtown Los Angeles.
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me is featured on the Dutch biotech website Biopolitics.NL!
 

biosmonthly
 

Blue-Eyed Me is featured in the Taiwanese magazine ‘BIOS Monthly’ !
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me is featured on the Polish website Gadzetomania!
 


 

I gave an interview to Tim Maughan for VICE’s Motherboard, about Blue-Eyed Me and the ideas behind it.
 


 

Excited to announce that Blue-Eyed Me is now online! Check out the premiere and interview on VICE.
 


 

Following the 31st Berlin International Short Film Festival ‘Interfilm’, Blue-Eyed Me will be screening in several cinemas across Germany in December, with 10 other short films as part of the Shorts Attack ‘Golden Shorts: Best of 31st Interfilm’ screening series!
 

BEM_BANNER interfilm_sm
 

Blue-Eyed Me has been selected for the 31st Berlin International Short Film Festival ‘Interfilm’!
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me has been selected for the 15th Valley Film Festival Screening on the 25th October at the Laemmle NoHo 7 theater in North Hollywood!
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me has been selected for the 8th Imagine Science Film Festival! Screening on the 21st October at 7pm at Rockefeller University, New York City.
 

BEM_BANNER sapporo_sm
 

Blue-Eyed Me in Japanese – we’ve been selected for the 10th Sapporo Short Fest!
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me has been selected for the 30th Brest European Short Film Festival! The festival runs from the 10th to the 15th November.
 

BEM_BANNER oaxaca_sm
 

Blue-Eyed Me in Spanish! We have been selected for the Oaxaca Film Festival! Kindly translated into Spanish by the talented Guillermo del Rivero.
 

BEM_BANNER LES_sm
 

Blue-Eyed Me has been selected for the Lower East Side Film Festival! We’re screening at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, on Tuesday 16th June at 19:30.
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me has been selected for the 15th SCI-FI LONDON Film Festival! We are screening at the BFI IMAX. The festival runs 29 May – 7 June 2015.
 

BFF_poster_sm
 

Our film Blue-Eyed Me will have its premiere at the 18th Brooklyn Film Festival! We are screening on May 30th at 14:30, and on June 1st at 22:30.
 


 

Directing a new short film – Into the Stream. Some photos from yesterday’s shoot.
 


 

I’ll be giving a guest lecture at the Royal College of Art on March 4th 2015 at 6pm, for their Design Interactions MA programme.
 


 

Blue-Eyed Me poster relased – more updates coming soon!