MAY 2025 — The 78th Festival de Cannes’ Immersive Competition features the world premiere of Fillos do Vento: A Rapa, a groundbreaking 28-minute immersive documentary that plunges audiences into the heart of Galicia’s centuries-old “Rapa das Bestas” ritual. Directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Brais Revaldería (Westworld, Recipe for Change) and creatively directed by María Fernanda Ordóñez Morla, the project exemplifies the fusion of tradition and innovation.
Unlike other entries in the Immersive Competition, which often rely on virtual or AI-generated environments, Fillos do Vento: A Rapa offers an authentic, multisensory experience. Utilizing 270-degree projection mapping, 8K visuals, ambisonic sound, and interactive storytelling, the film dissolves the boundary between observer and participant. Viewers are enveloped in the misty Galician landscape, feeling the pounding hooves and hearing the breath of wild horses as they step into the Curro where villagers and horses collide in a test of strength and memory.
The transformation from a traditional 16:9 documentary to an immersive installation was made possible through a collaboration between U.S. and Spanish creatives. Bruno Saavedra and Kim Xrossing of New York’s Shift Midtown led the projection mapping and technical integration, working closely with the director and producer to restructure the film’s visual language—from cinematography choices to playback technology. Their work challenges the notion that immersive storytelling is an exclusive, high-tech art form, demonstrating its accessibility and power to convey deep cultural narratives.
“Projection mapping isn’t just a tool—it’s a storytelling language,” says Saavedra. “With Fillos do Vento, we weren’t just projecting a film. Done correctly with technology and cinematography, we transported people into a living tradition.”
Saavedra and Xrossing led the technical build of the installation at Cannes, blending high-end technology with artisanal detail to create an emotionally immersive experience. The video installation utilized eight projectors across a 99m² space, generating 100 linear feet of projection-mapped walls that wrapped the audience in 270 degrees of cinematic imagery. One projector was dedicated to the credits wall, while two additional projectors brought life to patches of grass mapped directly onto the floor. In total, the installation used over 13.2 million pixels to present the 8K footage in stunning detail.
On the audio front, the team faced a significant challenge: the proximity of neighboring exhibits made a traditional 7.1.2 surround mix unfeasible due to potential sound bleed. Their solution was a set of semi-open spatial audio headsets, allowing up to 16 guests at a time to experience a dynamic binaural mix that responded to their movements. This ambisonic soundscape—specially mixed in four channels—enabled audiences to hear the environment shift and swirl around them, further dissolving the line between viewer and participant.
The project, seven years in the making, was developed with support from Galicia’s Xunta, the Diputación de Pontevedra, and the Concello da Estrada, and in collaboration with the Asociación Rapa das Bestas. It was previously showcased in a non-immersive format at Canada’s Hot Docs Festival before its immersive debut at Cannes.
Fillos do Vento: A Rapa stands as a testament to the evolution of storytelling and cinematography, redefining the documentary format to create a world the audience can live in rather than simply observe. It embodies the shift from bystander to participant in immersive storytelling, allowing audiences to embrace the emotion that surrounds them as active participants.
