Join us in VRChat or on YouTube for a special screening of The Reality of Hope, a powerful short film that premiered at Sundance and the 2025 Venice International Film Festival.
📅 Thursday, Oct 30th
🕐 12:30–2 PM PT / 3:30–5 PM ET
📍 Agog House in VRChat, or via YouTube livestream
After the screening, we’ll hear from filmmaker Joe Hunting and the film’s two inspiring subjects, Hiyu (Jack Parsons) and Photographotter (Alex Davidson), in conversation with Agog’s own Manglebird (Mike Salmon). Together they’ll explore how immersive storytelling and shared virtual spaces foster friendship, creativity, and compassion across distance.
As a bonus, we’ll reveal some spine-tingling new updates to Agog House—from thrills to chills!.
More about the speakers
Joe Hunting
A UK-born, California-based filmmaker best known for We Met in Virtual Reality (Sundance 2022, HBO acquisition). His latest short, The Reality of Hope, was released with The New Yorker and Documentary+. Joe’s pioneering work inside VR has been featured in TIME, WIRED, and Filmmaker Magazine.
Hiyu (Jack Parsons)
A professional game artist in Stockholm and founding member of the Furality Creative Team, building worlds and composing music for Furality’s VR conventions. In 2024, he received a life-saving kidney donation from his VR friend PhotographOtter.
Photographotter (Alex Davidson)
A writer and independent film director from New York whose friendship with Hiyu became the heart of The Reality of Hope—a testament to empathy and connection across worlds.