NYC: Tribeca Film Festival Immersive: Virtual Arcade

by No Proscenium Staff
No Proscenium Staff
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March 6, 2019
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8 min read

When: April 24 — May 5
Where: Tribeca Film Festival Hub, 50 Varick Street, New York, NY
Price: $40; available March 26; parental discretion is advised

Tags: #immersive, #interactive, #augmentedreality, #virtualreality, #ContactAdvisory, #ContentAdvisory, #MobilityAdvisory (see below)

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Press Release follows:

NEW YORK, NY — March 6, 2019 — The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, announced today that Tribeca Immersive, which leads as an incubator for innovation and is a global stage where top VR creators choose to debut their latest work, will showcase more than 30 cinematic and cutting-edge virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality experiences by top artists who push the boundaries of storytelling with technology. Tribeca Immersive encompasses two events that run the duration of the Festival, Virtual Arcade, presented by AT&T, and Tribeca Cinema360. The Tribeca Film Festival takes place from April 24 to May 5.

Visitors to the Virtual Arcade will encounter a lineup of 22 compelling VR, AR and MR experiences and exhibits from new and established artists, with Tribeca Cinema360 featuring 12 curated screenings in a custom VR theater. Immersive attendees will be transported to places they’ve never been, from a time-warping dream bubble (Future Dreaming) to an alien jungle (Bonfire), to riding on the back of a jellyfish to experience the wonders of the deep to see the impact of pollution from a vitally different perspective (A Drop in the Ocean). The Festival will premiere the first Dr. Who experience in VR, Dr. Who: The Runaway, voiced by the current and first female doctor Jodie Whittaker, and also present a one-of-a-kind collaboration with popular historian/podcaster Dan Carlin and MWM Immersive that transports attendees to a WWI battlefield with stunning realism (War Remains).

“Tribeca Immersive remains committed to the power of new technology as a dynamic vehicle for storytelling,” said Loren Hammonds, Senior Programmer, Film & Immersive for Tribeca Film Festival. “This year’s programming spans a myriad of genres, including many world premiere VR, MR and AR experiences.”

Numerous projects in this year’s program address relevant cultural issues, including gun control (12 Seconds of Gunfire: The True Story of a School Shooting), gentrification (Common Ground), pollution and conservation (A Drop in the Ocean) and persecution of the LGBTQIA community (Another Dream). Throughout the exhibition, Tribeca welcomes bleeding-edge creativity, showcasing top tech innovations, many of which showcase the future of location-based entertainment.

At this year’s Virtual Arcade, the Storyscapes juried selections present new trends and innovative work across mediums that integrate various forms of audience participation, with interactive installations focused on emotion and the human experience. The Storyscapes Award, presented by AT&T, honors artists who bridge the gap between technology and storytelling. This year, four of the five experiences up for the award were made by female creators.

Tribeca Immersive includes innovative experiences from creators such as Eric Darnell and Baobab Studios (Bonfire), Jessica Brillhart (Into The Light), Jan Kounen and producers Atlas V (Ayahuasca), Celine Tricart (The Key), Clyde Henry and Felix & Paul Studios (Gymnasia), Adam May (A Drop In The Ocean), Dan Carlin and MWM Immersive (War Remains) and Fable Studios’ Pete Billington and Jessica Yaffa Shamash (Wolves in the Walls: It’s All Over). Other notable names involved with projects include comedian Ali Wong (Bonfire), actors Jeffrey Wright and Noah Schnapp (Wolves In The Walls: It’s All Over), and musician Yo-Yo Ma (Into The Light).

“It has been a wild ride seeing how artists and filmmakers have responded to new technologies over the years, constantly pushing and prodding and exploring the edges of things in order to make beautiful and vital work,” said Ingrid Kopp, co-curator of Tribeca Immersive.

VIRTUAL ARCADE
Sponsored by AT&T
17 projects from nine countries, with 15 world premieres, make up this dynamic program.

2nd Civil War (World Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Kevin Cornish
Key Collaborators: Moth + Flame, Conversive, Pollution Studios, Denis Sharabari
2nd Civil War has broken out in America. In this voice-activated VR experience, you will drop into an Insurgent Hot Zone, interrogate the inner circle of the insurgency and decide: which side are you on?

7 Lives (World Premiere) — Luxembourg, France, Belgium
Project Creator: Charles Ayats, Sabrina Calvo, Jan Kounen
Key Collaborator: Franck Weber, Céline Tricart, Marie Blondiaux, Adrien Oumhani
An afternoon in June. Tokyo. 5 p.m. A girl jumps in front of the subway. Her soul rises from the rails. On the platform, the six people who witnessed the scene are in shock. It revived a trauma in them, painful memories they never overcame…

Ayahuasca (World Premiere) — France, Luxembourg, Belgium
Project Creator: Jan Kounen
Key Collaborators: Guillermo Arévalo Valera — Shaman
Participants are immersed in visions triggered by a dose of ayahuasca. The spectator lives this through director Jan Kounen’s eyes as he travels on a spiritual voyage.

Bonfire (World Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Eric Darnell, Baobab Studios
Key Collaborators: Maureen Fan, Larry Cutler, Kane Lee, Shannon Ryan, Ali Wong
Nice job. You’ve crashed your spaceship into an alien jungle. Your instincts, nourishment cylinders, and a wary robot sidekick are all you have for survival… or so you think. With Ali Wong.

Cave (US Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Ken Perlin, Kris Layng, Sebastian Herscher
Key Collaborators: Jess Bass
Cave is a coming-of-age story told through cutting edge Parallux technology, featuring a fully immersive holographic VR experience that can be shared by many audience members at once.

Children Do Not Play War (World Premiere) — Uganda, Brazil, USA
Project Creator: Fabiano Mixo
Children Do Not Play War is a cinematic VR tale of the war in Uganda told through the eyes of a young girl. Also playing in the program Cinema360: Her Truth, Her Power

Common Ground (World Premiere) — UK
Project Creator: Darren Emerson
Key Collaborators: Ashley Cowan, Conan Roberts
Explore the notorious Aylesbury Estate, concrete monument to the history and legacy of social housing in the UK, and home to a community affected by forces beyond their control.

Doctor Who: The Runaway (World Premiere) — UK
Project Creator: BBC / Passion Animation Studios
Key Collaborators: Mathias Chelebourg
Step inside the TARDIS with the Doctor in this beautiful, animated, interactive story from the Doctor Who team. With Jodie Whittaker, Richard Elfyn.

A Drop in the Ocean (World Premiere) — UK, France, USA
Project Creator: Adam May, Chris Campkin, Chris Parks
Key Collaborators: Philippe Cousteau, Ashlan Cousteau, Vision3, Conservation International
Discover a miniature universe at the heart of our survival. Become part of a Social VR adventure through the ocean food chain, to reveal a crisis of our making.

Ello (World Premiere) — China
Project Creator: Haodan Su
Key Collaborators: Zhiyuan Ma, Hao Luo
Ello is a sweet story about loneliness and friendship. When people expect friendship or love, proactively pursuing rather than passively waiting might lead to a surprising end.

Gymnasia (World Premiere) — Canada
Project Creator: Clyde Henry Productions
Key Collaborators: Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël
Step into a dream, where the ghostly ephemera of a lost childhood await you.

Into the Light (New York Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Jessica Brillhart, Igal Nassima
Key Collaborator: Yo-Yo Ma
Ascend Spring Studios and move through the movements of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Unaccompanied Cello Suite №2 in D Minor,” performed by the legendary Yo-Yo Ma.

Stealing Ur Feelings (World Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Noah Levenson
Key Collaborators: Brett Gaylor
Stealing Ur Feelings is an AR experience about the power of facial emotion recognition AI that exploits your reaction to its own content in horrifying ways.

Unceded Territories (World Premiere) — Canada/USA
Project Creator: Paisley Smith and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Key Collaborators: Ketsia Vedrine, Peter Denny, Patrick Weekes, Jason Legge
Through infectious interaction, build a natural world made up of the colorful, surrealist art of acclaimed First Nations painter Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, until you are confronted by Colonialist Snake who forces you to see the truth behind your actions.

War Remains (World Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Dan Carlin, MWM Immersive
Key Collaborators:
Brandon Oldenburg, Ethan Stearns, Flight School Studio, Skywalker Sound
Podcast legend Dan Carlin employs the unique power of virtual reality to transport audiences into the most extreme battlefield in history — the Western Front of The First World War.

Where There’s Smoke (World Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Lance Weiler
Key Collaborators: Peter English, Julia Pontecorvo, Dale Worstall
Where There’s Smoke mixes documentary, immersive theater, and an escape room to explore memory and loss. Set within the aftermath of a blaze, participants race to determine the cause of a tragic fire by sifting through the charred remains.

Wolves in the Walls: It’s All Over (World Premiere) — USA
Project Creator: Pete Billington, Jessica Yaffa Shamash
Key Collaborators: Fable, Facebook Sound+Design, Third Rail Projects, Oculus Studios, Edward Saatchi, Chris Hanson
Transport into the magic of VR cinema, where only you can help Lucy discover what’s truly hiding inside the walls of her house. With Jeffrey Wright, Noah Schnapp, Elizabeth Carena, Cadence Goblirsch

STORYSCAPES
Sponsored by AT&T

The competition includes four world premieres and one International premiere. One Storyscapes nominee will be selected by a jury to receive the Storyscapes Award, presented by AT&T, which recognizes groundbreaking approaches in storytelling and technology. The five projects come from Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Netherlands, UK, and USA.

Another Dream (حلم آخر) (World Premiere) — Netherlands, USA, Egypt
Project Creator: Tamara Shogaolu, Ado Ato Pictures
Key Collaborators: Lauren Dubowski, Natalya Sarch, Nada El-Kouny, Anastasia Semenoff (alpha_rats), Martijn Zandvliet, Gata Mahardika, Ytje Veenstra, Audioimmersive.com
Another Dream brings to life the gripping, true story of an Egyptian lesbian couple. Faced with a post-Revolution backlash against their community, they must choose between love and home.

The Collider (North American Premiere) — UK
Project Creator: Anagram
Enter The Collider, a machine built to decipher the mysteries of human relationships. The Collider is an immersive virtual and theatrical experience exploring power, dependency, and the space between people.

Future Dreaming (World Premiere) — Australia
Project Creator: Sutu
Key Collaborators: Charles Henden, Alison Lockyer, Maverick Eaton, Maxie Coppin, Nelson Coppin
Step into a time-warping dream bubble as four young Aboriginal Australians approach their futures. Be ready for an intergalactic adventure. Look out for the space emus!

The Key (World Premiere) — USA, Iraq
Project Creator: Celine Tricart
Key Collaborators: Gloria Bradbury
An interactive VR experience taking the viewer on a journey through memories. Will they be able to unlock the mystery behind the mysterious Key without sacrificing too much?

Traitor (World Premiere) — UK
Project Creator: Pilot Theatre, Lucy Hammond
Key Collaborators: Matt Stuttard Parker, Richard Hurford, Rebecca Saw, Lydia Denno, Jonathan Eato
Eight hours ago, teenager Emma McCoy vanished. All she left behind was a game. Now it’s the viewer’s job to find her.

Tickets for the 2019 Tribeca Immersive Program

Tribeca Immersive takes place in the Tribeca Festival Hub located at Spring Studios — 50 Varick Street. Admission to presentations of the Virtual Arcade featuring Storyscapes is $40. Tickets can be purchased online at tribecafilm.com/immersive beginning March 26 or by telephone at (646) 502–5296 or toll-free at (866) 941-FEST (3378).