Films and Performance
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Deborah Stratman)
This suite of Midwestern parables about faith, force, technology, and exodus questions the role belief plays in national identity. In our desire to make sense of the inscrutable, who do we end up blaming or endorsing? Cast: C. Felton Jennings II, Anna Toborg, Joshua Frieman, José Oubrerie, Daniel Verdier, David Gatten
Films and Performance
Artists: Gingger Shankar, Dave Liang, Sun Yunfan
The unsung story of Lakshmi Shankar and her daughter, Viji—two extraordinary artists who helped bring Indian music to the West in the 1970s through their close collaboration with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. This arresting, multigenerational, multimedia mashup features animation, family archives, and a live performance.
Films and Performance
United Kingdom, France (Directors and screenwriters: Peter Middleton, James Spinney)
After losing his sight, John Hull knew that not understanding blindness would destroy him. In 1983, he began to keep an audio diary. His recordings represent a unique testimony of loss, rebirth, and renewal, excavating the experience of blindness and documenting his discovery of “a world beyond sight.” Cast: Dan Skinner, Simone Kirby. World Premiere. Project includes a mobile VR experience.
New Frontier Installations
Artist: Kahlil Joseph; Key Collaborator: Kendrick Lamar
A lush portrait of contemporary Compton, California, set to a booming soundtrack by Kendrick Lamar, depicts everyday moments of black life suffused with creativity, joy, and sadness. From buoyant adolescent moments to ominous nighttime scenes, reality and fantasy dance to a haunting soundscape flashed across two screens. Cast: Bijan Faby, Shenelle Bullock, Chris Lewis, Rykeis Tyson, Jordan Dupree, Kamr Bailey .
New Frontier Installations
Artist: Jonathan Monaghan
This seamlessly looped computer animated film chronicles a golden deer through glossy environments of wealth, power, and authority through one continuous tracking shot. The journey imagines a new reality devoid of humans, left only with material desires and ambitions.
New Frontier Installations
Artists: Milica Zec, Winslow Porter; Key Collaborators: E.A. Donahue, Jack Caron, Todd Bryant
Trapped in an active war zone, two parents struggle to distract their young daughter by inventing a fantastical tale. Inspired by true events, this immersive VR experience transports the viewer to the family’s makeshift basement shelter. As the bombs draw closer and closer, the parents’ fairy tale intensifies. Cast: Zoë Winters, Clem Mcintosh, Jordana Rose .
New Frontier Installations
Artist: ILMxLab , Key Collaborators: John Gaeta, Hilmar Koch, Nick Rasumussen
This new scenic design and experience theatre allows participants to step into iconic story moments while spatially perceiving the performing characters and exploring worlds. As they portal inside a fully immersive media environment, they experience 4D viewing as if walking through film sets in the real world. Cast: Mat Brady, Peter Bogatsky, Frank La Monaca, Meghan Mowery, Rachel Rose .
New Frontier Installations
Artists: Barnaby Steel, Robin McNicholas
A 360 degree virtual reality experience presented on sculptural headsets, this work is an artistic interpretation of the sensory perceptions of three British animal species. Immerse yourself into this world from the forest floor to the tops of trees, and tread carefully as you observe through the eyes of the animals.
New Frontier Installations
Artist: Cassils
Using techniques borrowed from Hollywood stunts, Cassils experiences the very real terror of being lit on fire.
New Frontier Installations
Artists: Alex McDowell, Bradley Newman; Key Collaborators: World Building Media Lab
It’s 1895, and you’re in a scientific lab inside a massive flying whale. This augmented reality to VR setting, based on Scott Westerfield’s bestselling trilogy Leviathan, lets participants engage physically and emotionally with the setting and with human and animal characters. The best part is the ability to fabricate a brand new creature. Cast: Gildart Jackson, Isabella Schloss, Austin Nimnict, A.J. Helfet, Ellis Greer, Alex Ho.
New Frontier Installations
Artist: Kalup Linzy
The story of the fictitious Queen Rose family is told through episodic videos, collages, and a multimedia installation based on the “Pepper’s ghost” technique. Experience the melodrama often seen in primetime soap operas presented in an art installation. Cast: Kalup Linzy, Michael Stipe, Leo Fitzpatrick, Tunde Adebimpe, Hank Willis Thomas, James Everett Stanley .
New Frontier Installations
Artists: Sylvain Chagué, Caecilia Charbonnier; Key Collaborators: Bart Kevelham, David Hodgetts
A multiuser immersive platform that combines motion capture with virtual reality headsets allows users to move freely within the physical space, interact with objects and other participants, and virtually visit 3D interactive environments. Cast: Gilles Jobin, Susana Panades Diaz .
New Frontier Installations
Artist: Chris Milk; Key Collaborators: Brian Chasalow, Aaron Meyers, James George
A largescale interactive triptych, this story of birth, death, and transfiguration uses projections of the participants’ own bodies to unlock a new artistic language.
New Frontier Installations
Artist: Tracy Fullerton; Key Collaborators: Todd Furmanski, Lucas Peterson, Michael Sweet
In this game simulation of Henry David Thoreau’s experiment in living at Walden Pond from 1845 to 1847, players walk in Thoreau’s virtual footsteps, attend to the tasks of a selfreliant existence, discover the beauty of a virtual landscape, and engage in the ideas and writings of this unique philosopher. Cast: Emile Hirsch .
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Daniel Schechter, Linc Gasking, Rainer Gombos; Key Collaborators: Preya McMahon, Alexander Burke, Christina Webber
#100humans is the story of the first humans who walked through 8i’s doors to help invent a new medium. Using 3D video technology to record real people for VR, this story explores a new level of emotional connections and sense of presence that brings viewers the most lifelike intimate experience. Cast: Ashley Martin Scott, Logan Paul, Young Guru, Denise Garcia, Brent Bushnell.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Francesca Panetta, Lindsay Poulton
Right now, more than 80,000 people are locked in tiny concrete boxes where every element of their environment is controlled. They are confined to spaces with no human contact, and the sensory deprivation they endure causes severe psychological damage. These people are invisible to us—and eventually to themselves.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Michael Conelly, Lyndon Barrois; Key Collaborators: Keith Goldfarb, William Telford
Four generations of an Italian noble family are cursed by the corrupt power of an ancient book unearthed from the catacombs beneath their estate. Rich with traditional gothic inspired mythology, the story follows a scion of this cursed family attempting to shield his heirs from the inevitable darkness. Cast: JB Blanc .
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Nonny de la Peña, Brad Lichtenstein, Jeff Fitzsimmons
This immersive VR experience puts the audience on scene of antiabortion extremists trying to intimidate patients seeking sexual and reproductive health care at Planned Parenthood. Using documentary footage and a montage of real audio, viewers gain intimate knowledge of the harassment outside and compassion inside health centers across the country. Cast: Samantha Collier, Kristina Nailen, Raegan McDonaldMosley MD, Charles Gilbert, Lee Sherman, Joe Spence.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Jake Rowell, Neville Spiteri, Ben Vance
Encounter an 80foot blue whale while experiencing the awe, wonder, and majesty of underwater habitats, designed as beautiful moments in passing or a collection of memories.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Vincent McCurley, Loc Dao
A virtual reality experiment questions the ethics of artificialintelligence algorithms in selfdriving cars when they are faced with difficult decisions during an unavoidable crash event. Given varied cultural and individual ethics, who should be designing these algorithms, and how should they be chosen?
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Lynette Wallworth
Journey to a remote desert in western Australia that is home to indigenous leader Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe. Nyarri’s first contact with Western culture was in the 1950s via a dramatic collision between his traditional world view and the cutting edge of modern technology. Cast: Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, Curtis Taylor.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Danfung Dennis, Casey Brown, Phil McNally; Key Collaborators: Jay Brown, Andrew Delpit, Chris McClanahan
Encounter a majestic jaguar deep in the jungle, lie with a nesting sea turtle on a windy beach, and fly with monarch butterflies, all before they disappear. This powerful virtual reality experience is a glimpse into the habitats of Earth’s endangered species.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Randal Kleiser; Key Collaborator: Tanna Frederick
In this futuristic, scifi virtual reality adventure, viewers are put in the seat of a woman who wakes up after being frozen for nearly 30 years to reunite with her family. The reunion is bittersweet, as the passage of time has caused her loved ones to become strangers. Cast: Carl Weathers, Bruce Davison, Tanna Frederick, Christopher Atkins, Ethan Rains, Clinton Valencia.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Toby Coffey, Lysander Ashton, Ollie Lindsey; Key Collaborator: Mahdi Yahya
Fall down the rabbit hole and experience the magical and vibrant digital world of the Royal National Theater’s wonder.land stage show. Watch and listen with VR technology as the Cheshire cat hovers above like a magnificent holographic airship while serenading you to “Fabulous,” a song from the show. Cast: Hal Fowler.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Janicza Bravo
A day in the life of a tight-knit community in South Central Los Angeles. Cast: Keith Stanfield, Brandon Scott, Hannah Heller, Idara Victor, Jodie Smith .
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Lucy Walker
Organic, spontaneous, sexy dances progress chronologically through AfroCuban Santería rumba, mambo, chachachá, salsa, breakdancing, and reggaeton, with optional audio tracks reflecting the broader story of Cuban history as revealed in the moves. This live-action virtual reality documentary was filmed on location in Cuba and features Ballet de la Televisión Cubana. Cast: Ballet de la Televisión Cubana.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Ben Vance; Key Collaborators: Sam Bird, Joel Corelitz
Uniquely designed for room scale VR, this interactive art experience gives the viewer an intimate connection to the possibilities and wonders of space, where mysterious phenomena, hidden beauty, and the infinite await.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Alex Schwartz, Devin Reimer
This experience of manning an office cubicle is a unique blend of storytelling, comedy, and intuitive game mechanics that focuses on microinteractions. Pick up a tomato, smash a glass, and explore a sandbox world with childlike wonder, while ignoring established gaming systems.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Nonny de la Peña; Key Collaborators: Emblematic Group, Al Jazeera America, TEDWomen
In this harrowing virtual reality story of a reallife domestic violence homicide, two sisters engage in a doomed struggle to save the third from being shot and killed by her exboyfriend. Utilizing audio and imagery captured at the real event, this piece transforms the audience from viewers to active witnesses. Cast: Lee Sherman, Toyin Moses, Tripp Pickell, Diana Toshiko.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Robert Stromberg, Ridley Scott; Key Collaborators: Fox Innovation Lab, RSA Films, VRC
Step into the shoes of astronaut Mark Watney, as he performs tasks that will facilitate his chances for survival and rescue. Viewers can fly onto the surface of Mars, steer at zero gravity through space, and drive a rover, deepening the experience of key scenes from Ridley Scott’s hit film, The Martian .
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Felix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphael; Key Collaborator: Stephane Rituit
Witness the Maasai tribe’s living heritage in the village of Enkutoto, Kenya, through repeated walkabout visuals in the Great Rift Valley. Watch jumping dance competitions, the men’s unmatched hunting abilities, and the women’s skills in building mud houses, longdistance water collection, and bead artwork.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Felix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphael, Key Collaborators: Stephane Rituit, Jean Pascal Beaudoin
In this episode of Nomads , viewers share the Bajau tribe’s nomadic existence on crammed houseboats that sway to the motion of river waters. Watch as the families travel with fellow boat dwelling relatives, always sharing a communal spirit.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Arnaud Colinart, Amaury Laburthe, Peter Midlleton, James Spinney; Key Collaborators: Arnaud Desjardins, Béatrice Lartigue, Fabien Togman
After losing his sight in 1983, John Hull began to record an audio diary documenting his discovery of “a world beyond sight.” Hull’s original recordings form the basis of this interactive documentary, which uses realtime 3D, virtual reality, and binaural sound to explore the world of the blind. Cast: John Hull.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Infomation unavailable
Synopsis unavailable
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Eugene Chung, Jimmy Maidens, Alex Woo; Key Collaborators: Terry Kaleas, Ryan Shore, Nick Sung
An immersive, animated VR film. Crafted by the artists, hackers and storytellers of Penrose Studios, The Rose And I is about loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Come meet a lonely Rose living in the unlikeliest of places, and be transported into a brand new universe. Cast: Rachael Bigelow .
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Emilie Joly, Sylvain Joly, Michaël Martin; Key Collaborators: Maria Beltran Reyes, John Howe, Richard Johnson
A teenage girl becomes guardian of the last city on Earth to change its fate by fusing her instinctive knowledge of nature with an AI’s benevolence, analysis, and foresight. This interactive animated series made for virtual reality relies on your focus for the story to evolve. Cast: Peter Coyote, Morgan Burch.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Robyn Gray, Andrew Goldstein, Michael Murdock ; Key Collaborator: Philip Eberhart
Be careful where you look because someone or something doesn’t want you here. Otherworld presents two chapters in their popular horror series. Use Cardboard, GearVR, or the HTC Vive and experience two sets of thrills and chills as you physically walk through a haunted house and experience a virtual reality ghost story that will scare your pants off. Cast: Julia Chalker, Greg Vogt.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Philipp Maas, Dominik Stockhausen
When a drone receives a faint distress call emerging from an unknown asteroid, it journeys to locate the source of the signal and ventures into a deep, ancient labyrinth that holds a secret even darker than space itself.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artist: Andrew Thomas Huang; Key Collaborator: Björk Guðmundsdóttir
A virtual reality collaboration between Vrse.works creator Andrew Thomas Huang and Björk explores the possibilities that VR holds for performance platforms outside of the traditional music video world. Cast: Björk
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: XX
Project information unavailable
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Loic Suty, Osman Zeki, Claudine Matte; Key Collaborators: Catherine Mavrikakis, François Lafontaine
This immersive documentary unveils a journey into the heart of the First World War through hundreds of photographs that were found in the abandoned workshop of a country house in Quebec, Canada. Cast: Julian Casey, François Papineau.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Michel Reilhac, Carl Guyenette; Key Collaborators: Mélanie Le Grand, Xavier Servas, Sebastian Shorter
Three women and four men, all naked, appear out of nowhere in the white, sunny space of a bright room outside of time. They meet, touch, share their energy, and are transformed spiritually; they let themselves become one with the world. Cast: Amador Jojo, Ayoti, Christophe De La Pointe, De La Fouquette, Flozif, Yumie Volupté .
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Benjamin Dickinson, Reggie Watts, Luis Blackaller; Key Collaborators: Anthony Batt, Neville Spiteri
Reggie Watts weaves a virtual reality story that is a dream with in a dream meta-ride down the rabbit hole, where the only constants seem to be his philosophical musings, comedic insights, and musical genius. Cast: Reggie Watts, Nathalie Emmanuel.
Virtual Reality Lineup
Artists: Gabo Arora, Chris Milk; Key Collaborators: Imraan Ismail, Samantha Storr, Patrick Milling Smith
In this experience viewers are transported to the most populous slum in the capital city of Liberia, where Decontee Davis, an Ebola survivor, uses her immunity to help others affected by the disease. Cast: Decontee Davis .