This year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah was a surprise hit for virtual reality (VR) technology. It was here that Oculus VR revealed its new film-focused division, Oculus Story Studio, while plenty of other filmmakers and story tellers showcased their own projects using head-mounted displays (HMDs) in the festival’s New Frontier section. That section is set to return for the 2016 edition of the festival from 21st – 31st January, and is this time utterly dominated by VR experiences.
An entire VR section features in the New Frontier showcase this year with some 30 titles that include movies and even videogames. The full list complete with a brief synopsis for each can be found below (or on the Sundance website), but highlights include Owlchemy Labs’ Job Simulator and the world premiere of The Rose and I, Penrose Studios’ new experience that recently saw a preview launch on Gear VR.
Yet more VR can be found outside of the dedicated section, however. Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s Notes on Blindness will include a mobile VR experience. Other projects such as In the Eyes of The Animal, Real Virtuality: Immersive Explorers, Giant and The Leviathan Project will also be on display. Simply put, there’s enough VR here to rival the likes of major videogame events such as E3.
#100humans
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 3-D 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.
6×9: An Immersive Experience of Solitary Confinement
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.
The Abbot’s Book
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.
Across the Line
Artists: Nonny de la Peña, Brad Lichtenstein, Jeff Fitzsimmons
This immersive VR experience puts the audience on the scene with anti-abortion 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 McDonald-Mosley MD, Charles Gilbert, Lee Sherman, Joe Spence.
theBlu: Encounter
Artists: Jake Rowell, Neville Spiteri, Ben Vance
Encounter an 80-foot blue whale while experiencing the awe, wonder, and majesty of underwater habitats, designed as beautiful moments in passing or a collection of memories.
Cardboard Crash
Artists: Vincent McCurley, Loc Dao
A virtual reality experiment questions the ethics of artificial-intelligence algorithms in self-driving 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?
Collisions
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.
Condition One
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.
Defrost
Artist: Randal Kleiser; Key Collaborator: Tanna Frederick
In this futuristic, sci-fi 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.
fabulous wonder.land
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.
Hard World for Small Things
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.
A History of Cuban Dance
Artist: Lucy Walker
Organic, spontaneous, sexy dances progress chronologically through Afro-Cuban Santería rumba, mambo, cha-cha-chá, 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.
Irrational Exuberance
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.
Job Simulator
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 micro-interactions. Pick up a tomato, smash a glass, and explore a sandbox world with childlike wonder, while ignoring established gaming systems.
Kiya
Artist: Nonny de la Peña; Key Collaborator: Emblematic Group
In this harrowing virtual reality story of a real-life domestic violence homicide, two sisters engage in a doomed struggle to save the third from being shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend. 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.
The Martian VR Experience
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.
Nomads: Maasai
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, long-distance water collection, and bead artwork.
Nomads: Sea Gypsies
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.
Notes on Blindness—Into Darkness
Artists: Arnaud Colinart, Amaury Laburthe, Peter Middleton, 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 real-time 3-D, virtual reality, and binaural sound to explore the world of the blind. Cast: John Hull.
Perspective 2: The Misdemeanor
Artists: Rose Troche, Morris May; Key Collaborator: Charles Ottaway
When two men are stopped by a police officer, a simple misdemeanor spirals out of control, turning the situation rapidly antagonistic. With each party suspecting the other, no one is able to stop the chain of events that follows. Cast: Shemar Jonas, Javon Jones, Joey Auzenne, Johnny Tchaikovsky.
The Rose and I
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.
Sequenced
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.
Sisters
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. 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.
Sonar
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.
Stonemilker
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.
Surge
Artist: Arjan van Meerten
An abstract meditation on the evolutionary process and its relentless march towards complexity, this virtual reality music video was produced over the course of a year, with Arjan van Meertan creating all of the music, animation, and code himself.
The Unknown Photographer
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.
Viens! (Come!)
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.
Waves
Artists: Benjamin Dickinson, Reggie Watts, Luis Blackaller; Key Collaborators: Anthony Batt, Neville Spiteri
Reggie Watts weaves a virtual reality story that is a dream-within-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.
Waves of Grace
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.
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