Although OFFF has grown a lot in this edition, the heart of the festival is still Roots, the main auditorium where presentations and keynote speeches are delivered by some of the major names in digital creativity and the audiovisual industry. This year the main highlights included new people as well as some OFFF regulars. Speakers included designers like Adriana de Barros, CSS evangelist Dave Shea, Singapur’s Phunk Studio, (showing also some works in the exhibition area and presenting a new book spanning 10 years of work) and major names in the Spanish design scene like La Mosca and Area3.

Phunk Studio

The cancellation at the very last minute of the presentation by Amy Franceschini from Futurefarmers meant that the main attraction of the first day were Michael Cina and Mike Young, WeWorkForThem.

WeWorkForThem

One of the most anticipated presentations of the festival, WeWorkForThem decided not to speak this time, choosing instead to show some of their most recent work along with music, in a performative style. Although they started almost one hour late due to technical problems, the auditorium was completely full and expectant to see their stylish and extremely polished work. They did not dissapoint, though I personally found their decision to present their pieces in an audiovisual show format not really adequate to the nature of their pre-rendered, not-reactive pieces. The reaction from the audience was however completely enthusiastic. Finishing their presentation giving away copies of their new DVD caused almost a riot between the assistants that tried to get some of them.

Prologue Films

Another of the most eagerly awaited moments in the Roots space was undoubtedly the presentation from Prologue Films, the production company directed by the legendary Kyle Cooper. Cooper is recognized as probably the most important designer of film titles working right now in Hollywood, and his work for films such as ‘Se7en’, ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau’, and ‘Mission:Impossible’ has granted him a place of honour in the history of the discipline. Cooper himself selected his favourite pieces for a special retrospective that was screened in the audivisual section of the festival, while the Art Director of his company, Raffi Simonian, commented during his presentation their most recent works, concluding with the astonishing title sequence for ‘Spiderman 2’.