TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese artist Huang Hsin-chien (黃心健) won big at the Cannes Film Festival-associated Marché du Film with his VR production "Samsara."

A multimedia artist and professor in National Taiwan Normal University's design department, Huang took home the Best VR Story award of the Cannes XR program with his latest virtual reality work, titled "Samsara Ep. 1," on Monday (July 12), beating out 16 other nominations. The work had previously won the South by Southwest Film Festival's (SXSW) Jury Award in March.

The 55-year-old artist expressed gratitude on Facebook to those who helped him create the Made-in-Taiwan original, including National Taiwan Normal University, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, and the Kaohsiung Film Archive's VR FILM LAB. The Marché du Film awards ceremony is slated for Tuesday at the Museum of Other Reality.

Applying volumetric capture technology and providing the audience with virtual arms, "Samsara" vividly explores social issues, including ecology, natural resources, and war. The plot focuses on humanity's journey to seek a new planet after Earth is destroyed by nuclear weapons, Huang explained.

The award-winning film will get its Asian premiere in the southern city of Kaohsiung in October after its international tour in September.