Kiira Benzing is a director crossing the mediums of theater, hybrid cinema and virtual reality. “Cardboard City” her first venture in Virtual Reality won the Samsung Gear Indie Milk VR contest (2016). Following this VR film her interactive installation for “Cardboard City” combining VR and AR premiered at the 54th annual New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center. Her short film “Hilda” had its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017 and was distributed to Amazon and her recent film Diptych had its world premiere at Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera (2018). She has been selected twice for the Oculus Launch Pad Program, Google’s Jump Start, and as a JustFilms Fellow in partnership with the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. She is currently working with live actors performing in social VR with the open software platform High Fidelity and she writes for the Medium blog “Alive in Plasticland”. 

World-building, especially crafting storyworlds that center on social good and provide the player with a sense of agency resonate with Benzing’s core mission. She loves working in all formats – 2D, 360, volumetric capture and 3D animation. Whether VR, AR, film or game she firmly believes the story must dictate the medium. She enjoys uniting technologists and creatives to inspire and push each other.

Kiira is proud to announce that her most recent project, Runnin’, is an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2019.

RUNNIN’

Sundance Film Festival, Official selection 2019

Set in a retro-future world, this interactive VR dance experience is driven by Reggie Watts’ and John Tejada’s soaring track, Runnin’. Players are given a superpower that brings the dance floor to life through your movement. Putting the player at center stage of this surreal virtual world, a cast of volumetric dancers welcome players to the dance like nobody’s watching.