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Unity at Sundance Film Festival 2020

January 7, 2020 in Entertainment | 6 min. read
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In January of 2020, real-time storytellers will be able to dazzle and inspire the Sundance Film Festival audience with immersive creative achievements in the show’s New Frontier program.

Time and again, creative visionaries find new ways to bring their stories to the audience of one of the world’s premier film festivals, and Unity is proud to be the foundation on which these storytellers of tomorrow build their narratives and share their vision. From fully immersive VR experiences to world-defying augmented reality, and adventures in 360 videos, these Sundance Film Festival exhibits challenge the way people interact with stories and defy the conventions of traditional media.

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Forging a New Frontier

The Sundance New Frontier program brings together the craft of storytelling, interactivity, and technology. This unique collection showcases work that lives at the cross-section of film, art, performance and emerging technologies.  See how these cutting edge storytellers were able to realize their vision with Unity.

A Machine for Viewing

United Kingdom, Australia (Directors: Oscar Raby, Richard Misek, Charlie Shackleton, Producers: Richard Misek, Oscar Raby) ― A unique three-episode hybrid of real-time VR experience, live performance and video essay in which three moving-image makers explore how we now watch films by putting various ‘machines for viewing,’ including cinema and virtual reality, face to face.

After the Fallout

Switzerland, U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Sam Wolson, Dominic Nahr) — In March 2011, an earthquake caused a tsunami and a meltdown at the Daiichi nuclear power plant. The devastating consequences filled the communities in Fukushima with fear of the intangible and split Japan in a distinct before and after.

All Kinds of Limbo

United Kingdom (Lead Artists: Toby Coffey, Raffy Bushman, Nubiya Brandon) — The National Theatre of Great Britain’s communal musical journey reflecting the influence of West Indian culture on the UK's music scene across the genres of reggae, grime, classical, and calypso. Immersive technologies, the ceremony of live performance and the craft of theatrical staging bring audiences into a VR performance space. Cast: Nubiya Brandon.

ANIMALIA SUM

Germany, Brazil, Iceland (Lead Artists: Bianca Kennedy, Felix Kraus) ― I am animals. I eat animals. A duality explored in a virtual reality experience in which insects will be the future's main food supply.

Anti-Gone

U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Theo Triantafyllidis, Key Collaborators: Connor Willumsen, Matthew Doyle) ― In a post-climate change world, environmental catastrophe has become normalized. Cities are sunken, yet the vestiges of late-capitalist culture live on, clinging like barnacles to the ruins of civilization. Spyda and Lynxa are a couple navigating this world, gliding frictionlessly from shopping to movies to psychedelic drugs. Cast: Lindsey Normington, Zana Gankhuyag, Matthew Doyle.

Atomu

France, Kenya, U.S.A., United Kingdom (Lead Artists: Shariffa Ali, Yetunde Dada, Key Collaborators: Antoine Cayrol, Rafael Pavon, Arnaud Colinart, Opeyemi Olukemi, Annick Jakobowicz, Cassie Kinoshi, Toby Coffey, Steve Jelly, Simon Windsor) ― Go inside the cyclical center of a Kikuyu Tribal Myth from Kenya, where man may become woman and woman may become man. Through virtual reality, dance and music, a sacred space is created to explore many versions of yourself. Cast: Cassie Kinoshi, Alexander Whitley, Clément Chériot, Amaury La Burthe.

The Book of Distance

Canada (Lead Artist: Randall Okita, Key Collaborators: David Oppenheim, Sam Javanrouh, Emma Burkeitt, Luke Ruminski) ― In 1935, Yonezo Okita left his home in Hiroshima, Japan for Canada. Then war and racism changed everything. Three generations later his grandson leads us on an interactive pilgrimage through an emotional geography of immigration and family to recover what was lost.

Breathe

Sweden, Canada, U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Diego Galafassi, Key Collaborators: Jess Engel, Myriam Achard, Stephen Mangiat) — A mixed-reality application that uses body movement and breathing to immerse participants in the story of air. Recast the ordinary experience of breathing as an immediate, direct link to a complex living world. We are alive to a planet that is alive to us.

Dance Trail

Switzerland (Lead Artists: Gilles Jobin, Camilo De Martino, Tristan Siodlak, Susana Panades Diaz, Key Collaborators: Laurent Rime, Léo Thiémard) ― A dance piece in augmented reality enabling users to invite virtual dancers into our world. Site-specific and mobile, the app allows to see dance sequences outdoor and indoor during the Festival. Users can place dancers anywhere in the world and share snapshots and videos. Cast: Susana Panadés Diaz, Victoria Chiu, Maelle Deral, Diya Naidu, Tidiani N'diaye, Gilles Jobin.

Hypha

Chile (Lead Artist: Natalia Cabrera, Key Collaborators: Sebastian Gonzalez, Juan Ferrer) ― An immersive virtual reality journey to heal the Earth–by becoming a mushroom. Experience the life cycle of a fungus, and comprehend the importance of the fungi kingdom, Earth's main bioremediation agent. Cast: Trinidad Piriz.

Living Distance

China, U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Xin Liu, Key Collaborators: Qinya (Jenny) Guo, Gershon Dublon, Reese Donohue) ― A fantasy and a mission, in which a wisdom tooth is sent to outer space and back down to Earth again. Carried by a crystalline robotic sculpture called EBIFA, the tooth becomes a newborn entity in outer space and tells the story of a person in this universe.

Metamorphic

U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Matthew Niederhauser, Wesley Allsbrook, Elie Zananiri, John Fitzgerald, Key Collaborators: Tim Fain, Siyuan Qiu) In this social VR experience, the body becomes a vehicle for expression within majestically drawn worlds. Participants explore the radical possibility of effortless transformation as movement and play alter appearances and surroundings.

Persuasion Machines

U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Karim Amer, Guvenc Ozel, Key Collaborators: Jess Engel, , Geralyn White Dreyfous, Marni Grossman) ― How are your likes, shares, selfies, and devices being used against you? By making the invisible world of data visible, this experience will show you how your digital footprint is shaping your reality.

Scarecrow

Korea (Lead Artists: Jihyun Jung, Sngmoo Lee, Taewan Jeong, Cooper Yoo, Key Collaborators: Chungyean Cho, Sanghun Heo, Yeonjee Kim) ― A user walks into a surreal Sisyphean world of cursed artists to break the spell. Cast: Seongtae Kim, Hyoungjun Kwon, Myungseok Chae, Donggen Shin.

Solastalgia

France (Lead Artists: Antoine Viviani, Pierre-Alain Giraud, Key Collaborators: Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nicolas Becker) A mixed-reality installation set in a mysterious future exploring the surface of a planet that has become uninhabitable. The last generations of humans are living as holograms, repeating the same scenes over and over again. What secret does this strange paradise contain? Cast: Mehdi Belhaj Kacem, Audrey Bonnet, Anne Brochet, Nancy Huston, Arthur Nauzyciel, Corine Sombrun.

Spaced Out

France (Lead Artist: Pyaré, Key Collaborators: Sutu, Mourad Bennacer, Ando Shah, Stephen Greenwood, Atlas Roufas) ― An underwater VR experience transports you aboard a voyage from the Earth to the moon, as well as within, led by the audio conversations of the Apollo 11 mission. Using special underwater VR goggles and a snorkel, the experience becomes a space simulation immersing all of the senses.

Celebrating creators is one of our core values

Sundance Film Festival continues to push the boundaries of storytelling, as seen through Made with Unity creators who unveiled unprecedented, immersive experiences this year. Unity hopes to inspire the existing and future storytellers to take risks, be bold, and try new things. 

Learn more about the New Frontier exhibits at Sundance Film Festival 2020.

We invite you to share your own Unity creations on social media using the #madewithunity to be featured. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for live updates throughout the event.

January 7, 2020 in Entertainment | 6 min. read

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