Natasha Babenko, Aayushman Pandey, Alexia Kyriakopoulus

NORMAL DAY

USA, 2018, 15’,

NORMAL DAY
An interactive virtual reality installation in which actress Tatyana Kot reflects on her experiences with breast cancer through dance, poetry, and performance art. The work, presented on Oculus Rift, follows both Tatyana’s daily routine as she deals with her diagnosis, and her inner emotional world as she strives to maintain a sense of normalcy. Towards the end of the experience, after the viewer has been immersed in the intimate world of Tatyana’s story, Tatyana asks the viewer to hold her hand so they can follow her further. If they reach out, the viewer makes physical contact with the Moderator’s hand as a proxy. This intimate physical contact triggers a continuation of Tatyana’s journey on the headset.

Natasha Babenko
Filmmaker based in NYC. After obtaining a Master’s in Linguistics and International PR and a decade of traveling and working, she was determined to dedicate the rest of her life to film and all film-related arts. Her first short works competed and won in multiple festivals around the world. The potential for technology and art to create a unique POV and experience for the viewer catalyzed her latest collaboration: an interactive VR documentary based on life of her dear friend and brilliant actress Tatyana Kot.

Aayushman Pandey
Filmmaker from Mumbai. His film A Day in the Life won a Bronze Medal at the 2012 New York Film & Television Festival. He works in advertising film production, and has worked on ads involving sumo wrestlers, circuses, and Queen Elizabeth II lookalikes (unfortunately never at once). He doesn’t talk much. People have frequently mistaken him for Lurch from the Addam’s Family, although childhood friends remember him more as the child from the Omen

Alexia Kyriakopoulus
Holds a B.S. in Marketing Communications and is currently a graduate student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Interactive Telecommunications Program. After graduating with honors from Emerson College in Boston, she worked for FOX Digital Studios in LA, and Ogilvy & Mather in Athens. During graduate school at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Alexia developed a passion for storytelling through new media and has since focused on creating VR experiences.