Apps infiltrate cinema and theatre

The Apps have reached the audiences of cinemas and theatres. In summer the company The Fura dels Baus surprised everyone by linking the development of the work “MURS” to an App. Now, it has been the turn of the cinema with the help of Robert Figueras and Diego Rodríguez with their “Panzer chocolate”.

Determined to explore and exploit the term “transmedia"These two Spanish producers have been developing a pioneering project in the world of cinema for five years. During this time they have developed an App that allows interaction with the film.

In statements collected by the portal milenio.com, Diego Rodríguez focuses on the need to evolve cinema to guarantee its existence and permanence. “It is something similar to what 3D does. Our path is the subject of the interaction of the public with cell phone applications that feed what they are seeing on screen. We programmed 13 interactions for this film; the app notifies you in advance, so that you do not lose the plot thread,” he says.

Something similar was done by the always transgressive The Fura dels Baus this summer to kick off the Barcelona Greek Festival. Dubbed smartshow, they brought together the power of interpretation and the interactive capacity of mobile applications on stage.

Conceived as a conceptual model, like everything proposed by La Fura dels Baus, this work, “MURS”, was intended to show the invisible walls that accompany us in an increasingly technological world. As they themselves explain, “Today's WALLS are not physical, they are invisible. They are not identified with nations, states, or people. The technology It has distanced us from culture, it has dehumanized us, it has alienated us from pain. Any of us are potential repressors and potential repressed. We are from the moment we buy a pair of sneakers – displaying a certain luxury – that have been made from child exploitation in places on the planet that we can barely locate on a map. We are from the moment an official can kill people using weapons that look like a harmless video game.”

MURS uses technology to report the manipulative use that can be made of it by influencing “the politics of fear and strategies to subjugate people,” explained Jürgen Müller, a member of La Fura dels Baus, to the media.

Reflection that only wants to stir our internal forum to awaken in the public not only their social conscience but also to make them reflect deeply on the environment and on our own lifestyles.

To develop this show, La Fura dels Baus has counted on the collaboration of different academic institutions of international prestige such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Futurelab of the Institut Ars Electronica of Linz (Austria) as well as the Open Systems department of the University of Barcelona, the Rovira i Virgili University, the TigreLab studio and the Directorate of Creativity and Innovation of l'ICUB (Barcelona LAB).

However, and as has been constant in the history of La Fura dels Baus and its shows, the provocation and reflection that this company proposes does not always please the majority of the public and its premiere sparked criticism of all kinds.

And to know more about the movie “Panzer Chocolate” here is the trailer: