2021 - Seven Grams

SEVEN GRAMS, OFFICIAL SELECTION AT THE GENEVA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (GIFF)

Lucid Realities is honored to announce that the project Seven Grams has been selected for the 27th edition of Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) that will take place from the 5th til the 14th of November 2021.

Presented for the first time in Switzerland, Seven Grams has been selected among the non-competitive section of the future is sensible, a category dedicated to different social, ecological and technological issues, combined to movies and XR works that question ethical choices and their impact on the future.

Seven Grams is an augmented reality project directed by Karim Ben Khelifa and co-produced by Lucid Realities, France Télévisions, POV-Spark and Think Film, with the support of CNC and Occitanie region.

The project deals with the controversial production of electronic personal devices and how it has an enormous impact on the environment and on the inhabitants of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who are abused and exploited by this questionable economical business during the process of mineral extraction. This moral issue is also exposed as an animated short movie illustrated by TT Hernandez, which highlights even further through inspiring drawings this questionable reality.

SEVEN GRAMS previewed at the BAYEUX CALVADOS-NORMANDY WAR CORRESPONDENT PRIZE

We are delighted to announce the preview of our new augmented reality project “SEVEN GRAMS” directed by Karim Ben Khelifa (The Enemy) at the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy War Correspondents Award, whose 28th edition will be held from October 4 to 10, 2021. An exhibition mixing several artifacts and a test area of the experience will be held at the Espace d’art actuel Le Radar and will last until October 31, 2021.

The Bayeux Prize rewards and pays tribute to reporters who exercise their profession in perilous conditions and allow us to access to free information. On this occasion and during a week, various events will be organized around the French and foreign media.

Discover from October 5th, the new exhibition SEVEN GRAMS at the Espace d’art actuel Le Radar at 24, rue des Cuisiniers in Bayeux. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 2:30 to 6:30 pm, Saturday from 2 to 7 pm. Exceptional openings, Friday, October 8 from 2:30 pm to 7 pm and Saturday, October 9 from 10 am to 12 am and from 1 pm to 5 pm (continuous day). Free entrance

VARIETY | Karim Ben Khelifa’s intervention at New Images Festival

From the 23rd to the 27th of October, the 3rd edition of the New Images Festival took place at the Forum des Images, in Paris, France. Dedicated to presenting innovative projects to both professionals and the public, the festival presents a variety of XR, VR, and AR experiences. Among them, Karim Ben Khelifa’s AR experience “Seven Grams”.

This project is co-produced by Lucid Realities, France Télévision, POV and Think Film, the experience gives the used the opportunity to visualise the content of their own phone, and the humanitarian cost behind it. On Thursday, September 24th, director Karim Ben Khelifa presented a prototype of the experience, which takes the form of a phone application to the visitors of New Images Festival.

He explained, during the live-streamed case study “Seven Grams: Solution Journalism and Augmented Reality”, the concept behind his next AR project – once again with the help of executive producer Chloé Jarry of Lucid Reality. Journalist Marta Balaga, from Variety, writes : “ As mentioned also in the short trailer, shown to the audience gathered in the room as well as the one watching online, “Seven Grams” is a global journalistic project that tells the story of smartphones through a smartphone, using AR. With each mobile containing roughly seven grams of precious minerals, like gold, one country in particular has an abundance of them: The Democratic Republic of Congo. “But for many, this has been a curse rather than a blessing,” it was said in the video materials, as they are often extracted in horrendous conditions, violating basic human rights.” Karim Ben Khelifa explained that the idea for Seven Grams was born in 2014, while he was doing his previous VR experience, The Enemy.

“I was in a mine in eastern Congo, taking photos with my phone.
Not realizing they are digging out the very minerals that are enabling me to do it. [I want to show] why are we using these minerals,
why they are indispensable and how they make the device you have
in your hand so powerful”.

Karim Ben Khelifa
Director of Seven Grams

From augmented reality to the use of charcoal drawings, from the technological dissection to the story of Chance, a congolese miner, abducted when he was only 12 years old and going through immense horror, the article details the different artistic choices made by the director.

If you’d like to learn more about Karim Ben Khelifa’s intervention at the New Images Festival, click here.

Source : Variety

LATAM DIGITAL MEDIA | Karim Ben Khelifa at the 2019 LATAM in Rio de Janeiro

From November 11th to November 13th took place the 2019 DIGITAL MEDIA LATAM, the Digital Media industry’s leading event in Latin American. Taking place in one of Latin America’s most vibrant cities – Rio de Janeiro, the event welcomed over 400 participants from over 22 countries, and 175 media companies.

During this carefully tailored program of workshops, keynote sessions, panel discussions, fireside chats, networking events, partner demos, and report launches, journalist and XR director Karim Ben Khelifa was invited to share his experience working on The Enemy, a multi-awarded VR Journalistic project.

Moderated by Marcelo Lins, Karim presented “Journalism, technology and empathy: the case of The Enemy”. Using the latest virtual reality and augmented reality technology, Karim shared the behind the scenes of the experience through which he has managed to immerse his audience in the heart of the most complex armed conflicts on the planet. An example of how these technologies enhance the impact that journalism can have on audiences.

After The Enemy, Karim’s thirst for new forms of journalism and new forms of narrative has not quenched: Karim Ben Khelifa is currently working on a new journalistic experience, this time using Augmented Reality technology. Hoping to raise awareness on the human cost of electronic device production, Karim thought of Seven Grams, an AR app available on the App store (IOS) and the Play Store (Android). The experience allows the user to discover the dramatic reality of the Congolese mineral extraction industry, enforced by the cellphone and electronic device industry.

IDFA | Seven Grams selected at the IDFA DocLab Forum 2019

The IDFA Forum is one of the most influential meeting places for filmmakers, creators, and producers working on ground-breaking creative documentaries and new media projects. The event takes place during the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a festival supported by The Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and Creative Europe Media .

From November 24th to 27th 2019, 60 different projects in the field of documentary and new media were selected to pitch and present their idea, out of 730 submitted projects. Among them, Karim Ben Khelifa’s new AR journalistic project was selected. Thus, Seven Grams was presented at the IDFA DocLab Forum Selection, a showcase of the best interactive non-fiction storytelling and explores how the digital revolution is reshaping documentary art, among 17 projects dedicated to new forms of journalism.

ChangeNOW | prototype version of “Seven Grams” presented at Grand Palais

The first universal exhibition dedicated to global crisis solutions took place at the Grand Palais. From the 30th of January to the 1st of February 2020, ChangeNOW, took place in the heart of Paris for a brand new edition. The event aims to bring together business, organisations and other actors of effective change, in hope of inniating positive impact in society.

With over 20 000 visitors, 250 speakers from over 100 countries, and over 1000 solutions presented, ChangeNOW hopes to both raise awareness among the public, and showcase solutions to answer major social and environmental issues of our century.

For the occasion, the prototype version of Seven Grams, an augmented reality project directed by Karim Ben Khelifa, co-produced by Lucid Realities, France Télévisions and POV PBS, will be exceptionally presented to the public on the France Télévisions stand.

By using AR to explain complex political, economical and technical realities Seven grams offers, in a radically innovative way, to discover the link between our smartphones and the dramatic conditions in which Congolese minors live and work.

With this new project, innitiated by director of VR project THE ENEMY, Karim Ben Khelifa hopes to raise awareness of the dramatic consequences of the electronic devices’ production circuit and the mineral extraction industry in DRC.