In the screening I am invited to sit on the floor and wear VR glasses together with ten more people. Once in the documentary, I found myself sitting around a real fireplace located in the middle of the desert (or forest) with different people. This is a first-person documentary, and I am in the middle of a shamanistic ceremony.
The music becomes deep and stronger… some voices fade away, but continue in the background, I start seeing animals appear and disappear, only to realize they’re only part of the rocks and trees… the fireplace becomes brighter and human shaped figures dance through it, runs and symbols appear in the base of it. Finally, a dark purple smoke comes out of it and goes directly to your eyes.
I take my time to look around while on the floor, I sat in a circle. I listen to music and observe people singing. At some point, the shaman starts to share the “medicine for the soul” to people, and they pass it around. A person gives it to me and my character eats/drinks it. I see how the medicine is being pass to others and continue observing.
I “wake up” (open my eyes) it is daytime in the VR world. Voices slowly come clearly, and I can hear some experiences other people has gone through then, the shaman gets close to me and asks me what my experience was, and just after that everything turns into a white screen (and a sign that invites me to remove the lenses). Credits appear.
Of course, I was curious about what people thought about the VR experience. While I suggested an overall opinion to be sent to my email, Emma Richey, who designed the animation of Urban Witches, made a survey focused on allucinations that included two questions of my interest: How do you feel now? and How trascendental did your experience felt?