A glamorous flower seduces Shennong and poisons him as he tastes its petals. The visual effects allow the audience to become immersed in the illusion along with Shennong as the flower turns into a mythical beast that ends up torching Shennong to death.

The story is based on Shennong, also known as the "father of Chinese herbal medicine", who made it his life's work to sample hundreds of different kinds of herbs and record their characteristics, including their toxicity and medicinal properties.

Lei Zhengmeng, CEO of Pinta Studios, says his team wanted to bring the legend of Shennong to life, since most people had heard stories about him but had no idea what he looked like.

"We envisioned Shennong as a middle-aged man who is familiar with the forest," says Lei. "And we follow him into different layers of illusions through the seven-part story."

"Writing a VR script is different from writing a film script, as we have to abandon the use of the lens, and think of it more as a play in several acts," Lei says.

Shennong: Taste of Illusion is Pinta's second work. Last year, their first 11-minute VR film, The Dream Collector, was screened at the Venice Film Festival.

Lei says his team is focusing on reproducing classical legends as seen from the perspective of the younger generation, because "most of our team of 28 were born after the mid-1990s."

Lou is also the founder of Sandman Studios which screened its VR film Free Whale in Venice last year. He realized then that the best works of VR are only shown at film festivals, which was the reason why he decided to set up a similar event in China.

According to Lou, after SIF, some of the VR works will be presented during a nationwide roadshow using international curators. The second SIF event will be held from June 22 to June 30 in Qingdao next year, when more time will be devoted to forums and the showcasing of VR films.

Contact the writer at liyingxue@chinadaily.com.cn