The Hidden

image courtesy The Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival starts next month, an annual screening of everything from indie documentaries to family-friendly films. Coming to the festival’s Immersive program, which showcases works by artists who are pushing boundaries and using cutting-edge technology, are six Oculus-funded projects.

Oculus most recently sent 5 VR experiences to the Sundance this year, one of which, SPHERES, was sold in a 7-figure deal while there. SPHERES is also taking part in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Many of the projects funded by Oculus came out of the company’s VR For Good program, which sees funding and expertise in VR film making go to causes for social change.

A total of 21 AR/VR projects are coming to the film festival (check out the full list here). Here’s all of the Oculus-funded projects heading to Tribeca next month:

Meeting a Monster

Gabriela Arp + Life After Hate: Meeting a Monster examines the memories and motivations of former white supremacist Angela King. Through audio recordings, dramatic re-enactments, and present-day footage, the film invites us to experience both the stereotypes and bigotry that lured Angela into the white power movement as well as the encounters that led her back out. While the monsters of Angela’s past and imagination define much of the eight years she spent mired in bias and hate, she finds the path to redemption only after encountering and acknowledging the ultimate monster—herself.

Lindsay Branham + International Justice Mission: In southern India, debt bondage enslaves entire families in a vicious cycle of deception and violence. The Hidden follows the developing case of a family of nine that has been enslaved in a rock quarry for 10 years—over the ludicrous sum of just $70 USD. Indian government representatives and human rights activists plot a raid to attempt to apprehend the creditor and free the family. The Hidden takes you to sites of active slavery and inside the rescue mission itself, bringing you face-to-face with two families as they endure the unspeakable.

Authentically Us: She Flies By Her Own Wings

Jesse Ayala + Pride Foundation: Even as transgender visibility in pop culture continues to break glass ceilings, direct violence and discriminatory legislation against the transgender community continues to rise. Shannon Scott stands up at a time when her communities—proud transgender service-people and veterans of the US Armed Forces—are vulnerable and under attack. Shannon has dedicated her entire adult life to defending and safeguarding American citizens at home and abroad. Driven by the military tenet of “Leave No One Behind,” she seeks freedom and justice for all from the marbled halls of Washington, DC, to the hallowed ground of those who championed equality before her.

Campfire Creepers: Midnight March

Directed by Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) and starring iconic ’80s horror icon Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame, this episodic narrative from Future Lighthouse and Dark Corner leverages the unique affordances of VR storytelling to chill and thrill audiences like never before.

Untitled Ok Go & WITHIN Project

WITHIN Founder and CEO Chris Milk joins forces with OK Go’s Damian Kulash to let you and a friend experience the joy of music creation. Enter an environment surrounded by magical music-making contraptions, involving animals and robots wondrously working together with your help to create an original song.

SPHERES: Pale Blue Dot

The Big Bang was silent. Then came sound. Journey through the history of sound in the Universe and uncover the strangest song of all. Following the premiere of the first episode of SPHERES at Sundance, Eliza McNitt returns to debut the second installment at Tribeca. And with an unprecedented deal signed as a result of the project’s first public showing, we can’t wait to see what the encore has in store.

– – — – –

The post Oculus to Send 6 VR Projects to Tribeca Film Festival 2018 appeared first on Road to VR.

Immersive 360-degree storytelling has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years, with more directors and producers experimenting with the medium to see what can and can’t be achieved, alongside advancements in camera hardware and software. Currently Vanishing Point Media is in the post-production part of creating 360-degree thriller called The Hidden, which is now slated for release early 2018.

The Hidden’s story puts you into the shoes of an undocumented immigrant as you watch your daughter Sophia, a young Mexican-American woman living in rural America, as she is harangued, first verbally and then physically, by suspicious ICE officers while you hold your breath hiding.

The Hidden set shot 2 — Credit: Peter Cramer

The project places the viewer in different roles throughout the story, including letting them see events through the perspective of each family member. The goal of the film is to reveal both the tactics used by ICE, whilst enabling viewers to step into the perilous shoes of undocumented immigrants.

“We were made really aware that the power of virtual reality is to put the viewer in the shoes of another soul, and in a place and under a threat that you never would be yourself,” explained BJ Schwartz, who co-directed the film alongside fellow filmmaker Annie Lukowski.

“As important as the social issues are to us, VR really needs to be a compelling entertainment medium,” Lukowski added. “To get the message across, you really need to entertain audiences. So we landed on the thriller genre.”

Lukowski and Schwartz are the co-founders of the VR production company Vanishing Point Media which has created immersive content before, but The Hidden will be the company’s longest project to date, as well as its first original narrative piece.

Vanishing Point Media hasn’t yet confirmed how The Hidden will be distributed, whether it’ll be just for film festivals or if it’ll see a wider release for consumer headsets. As details are revealed VRFocus will let you know.

Category: The Hidden

Oculus to Send 6 VR Projects to Tribeca Film Festival 2018