Next month will see the start of the 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. In preparation, Tribeca Immersive has announced its schedule of more than 30 cinematic and cutting-edge virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) experiences.
Tribeca Immersive encompasses two events during the Festival, Virtual Arcade, presented by AT&T, and Tribeca Cinema360. Virtual Arcade will feature a lineup of 21 immersive experiences from new and established artists, while Tribeca Cinema360 will see 12 curated screenings take place in a custom theatre.
“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.”
The Virtual Arcade will feature the following lineup:
- 2nd Civil War (World Premiere) – USA – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – Children Do Not Play War is a cinematic VR tale of the war in Uganda told through the eyes of a young girl.
- Common Ground (World Premiere) – UK – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – Step into a dream, where the ghostly ephemera of a lost childhood await you.
- Into the Light (New York Premiere) – USA – Ascend Spring Studios and move through the movements of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor,” performed by the legendary Yo-Yo Ma.
- Stealing Ur Feelings (World Premiere) – USA – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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
The Storyscapes Award, recognizes groundbreaking approaches in storytelling and technology.
- Another Dream (حلم آخر) (World Premiere) – Netherlands, USA, Egypt – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – Eight hours ago, teenager Emma McCoy vanished. All she left behind was a game. Now it’s the viewer’s job to find her.
The Tribeca Cinema360 will feature the following lineup:
Change is Gonna Come
- 12 Seconds of Gunfire: The True Story of a School Shooting (World Premiere) – USA – After a gunman shoots her best friend on the playground, a first-grade girl confronts a journey of trauma and loss after the Townville, South Carolina, school shooting.
- Ashe ’68 (New York Premiere) – USA – Arthur Ashe emerged as an elite athlete who parlayed his fame as the first black man to win the US Open tennis championship into a lifetime devoted to fighting injustice.
- Accused No. 2: Walter Sisalu (North American Premiere) – France – A trove of 256 hours of sound archives of the Rivonia trial bring back to life the political battle waged by Nelson Mandela and his seven co-defendants against apartheid. This film looks at one of them in particular: Accused No. 2, Walter Sisulu.
Go Team!
- 11.11.18 (World Premiere) – Belgium, France – A few minutes before the suspension of fighting in World War on November 11, 1918, soldiers have to face a series of decisions.
- Space Buddies (World Premiere) – USA – It takes a special team of astronauts to survive the voyage to Mars without going insane. This crew will be lucky to make it past launch.
- Mr. Buddha (董仔的人) (International Premiere) – Taiwan R.O.C. – The short crime story takes place in a car, following Dong-Tzu, Ching-Tsai, and Ni-Sang, who get their hands on a valuable antique only to have the fruits of their labor shared with the newcomer, A-Che.
Her Truth, Her Power
- Mercy (New York Premiere) – USA, Cameroon – Edith, a 14-year-old from Cameroon, journeys through the jungle seeking life-transforming surgery to remove a tumor on her jaw.
- Girl Icon (New York Premiere) – USA, India – Globally, over 130 million girls do not go to school. Step into the life of one girl from India who is inspired by Malala Yousafzai to change her course.
- Children Do Not Play War (World Premiere) – Uganda, Brazil, USA – 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 Virtual Arcade.
Such Sweet Sorrow
- Armonia (World Premiere) – USA – Armonia takes the ride of the dynamic original piano concerto “Armonia Degli Uccelli,” and marries it to a universally accessible animation, to produce a uniquely layered spectacle of spatial storytelling.
- Dreams of The Jaguar’s Daughter (World Premiere) – USA, Mexico – Dreams Of The Jaguar‘s Daughter is a surreal VR documentary where Achik’, the spirit of a young Maya immigrant, guides the viewer through her memories of an arduous journey north.
- Water Melts (World Premiere) – USA – A blue-hearted rom-com about people who are going to lose someone they love. Nobody knows what to say, so they bicker, laugh/cry, get married. It’s a romantic comedy, after all.
The Tribeca Film Festival runs between 24th April – 5th May, with Tribeca Immersive taking place from 26th April to 4th May 2019. For further info regarding what’s going on and how to buy tickets, head to the official festival website. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.