Sundance’s ‘biodigital’ movie competition will attempt to bridge the hole between VR and actuality

Subsequent yr’s Sundance Film Festival will mark a momentous return to Park Metropolis, Utah, after in-person festivities were cancelled last year. However Sundance is not giving up on the digital platforms it used to stream movies and bring cinephiles into a VR social hub final January. As a part of its New Frontier exhibition, Sundance plans to develop The Spaceship, its digital venue the place attendees can chat collectively and discover VR and blended actuality artwork installations.

In an effort to attach Sundance’s in-person attendees with its world on-line viewers, the Pageant can even launch a “Biodigital Bridge” in Park Metropolis. Shari Frilot, Sundance’s Senior Programmer and Chief Curator of New Frontier, describes it as a human-scale display the place bodily and digital attendees will have the ability to work together with one another. Developed along with the immersive studio Active Theory, the bridge will provide fundamental chat assist, nevertheless it’s largely a means for Sundance-goers to see how different attendees benefit from the occasion.

Sundance Movie Pageant

Frilot says New Frontier has been pushing the idea of biodigital experiences for several years now, largely via an exploration of how expertise can intersect with our lives. Consider the way in which that an app like Uber, and even Google Maps, has reshaped the way in which we navigate bodily areas. However now that the pandemic has pressured us to depend on our tech greater than ever — Sundance would not have been attainable with out it final yr, in spite of everything — the time period appears virtually prescient. It is greater than only a buzzword: Frilot says she’s occupied with exploring the expertise that finest serves humanity, or Staff Human, as media theorist Douglas Rushkoff put it.

Final yr, I discovered Sundance’s online platform last year to be an enchanting method to discover the competition and work together with followers. The core of the expertise is the aforementioned Spaceship, which permits attendees on computer systems and VR headsets to mull about collectively. On a laptop computer or desktop, it resembles a stripped down model of Second Life. You stroll round as simplistic avatars, and in case you select, you may also flip in your webcam, which fills your avatar’s head with a stay video feed. Since Sundance’s platform is constructed on WebXR, a method to ship digital actuality over the net, you may enter that very same house in VR by slipping on any headset and visiting Sundance’s web site.

In comparison with SXSW’s VR platform, which regarded lovely however largely felt like a digital wasteland, it was clear that Sundance acquired one thing proper final yr. After isolating for many of 2020, with the ability to see lots of my cinephile pals in VR made final yr’s Sundance really feel particular. So for subsequent yr, Frilot says, the competition goes even additional. The Spaceship can be upgraded with a brand new Cinema Home, the place attendees on computer systems and VR headsets can view occasions livestreamed from Park Metropolis, in addition to room-scale discussions.

On the bottom, Sundance can even have a brand new house referred to as The Craft, which can let in-person attendees go to New Frontier displays, artist discussions and panels. There can even be VR headsets to make use of, although the competition can also be encouraging individuals to deliver their very own gear if they have it. Sundance hasn’t finalized its listing of New Frontier displays but, however Frilot tells me many artists are optimizing for the Oculus Quest 2, so fest-goers can expertise their work with out being related to a PC. However there’ll possible nonetheless be items that demand a severe VR rig. Sundance’s famed Egyptian theater can even host some New Frontier performances, which can happen each on the bottom and just about on the Spaceship.