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Sundance: 2020 New Frontier Program Features Underwater VR, Chomsky A.I.

The Sundance Institute revealed the last batch of programming for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — minus a few last-minute additions to its feature lineup, still to come —  by announcing its New Frontier section, which this time around include not only augmented and virtual reality, but also SMS-based text messaging, biotech and artificial intelligence.

Some of the more unconventional pieces include “Anti-Gone” (pictured above), an installation that imagines the world post-climate change; “Spaced Out” from French artist Pierre Friquet a.k.a. Pyaré, an underwater VR experience that invites viewers to put on their swimsuits and literally dive in; “Chomsky vs. Chomsky: First Encounter” from Montreal-based researcher and artist Sandra Rodriguez, an A.I. version of Noam Chomsky; and “Dance Trail” from Swiss artists Gilles Jobin, Camilo De Martino, Tristan Siodlak and Susana Panades Diaz, an augmented reality location-based dance piece that can be experienced at multiple locations during the festival.

The full lineup:

See the full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sundance-2020-frontier-program-seeks-210024741.html

FILMS AND PERFORMANCES

Infinitely Yours (Director: Miwa Matreyek) ― A live performance at the intersection of cinema and theater exploring what it means to be living in the Anthropocene and the time of climate crisis. A kaleidoscopic meditation that is an emotionally impactful and embodied illustration of news headlines we see everyday.

EXHIBITIONS

Anti-Gone (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 Doyl.

BLKNWS (Director: Kahlil Joseph, Screenwriters: Sheba Anyanwu, Lee Harrison, Darol Kae, Producers: Onye Anyanwu, Kahlil Joseph) — An ongoing art project that blurs the lines between art, journalism, entrepreneurship, and cultural critique, appropriating the newsreel format as an opportunity to reimagine the contemporary cinematic experience, mixing an element of seriousness with a lighthearted twist on what news can be. Cast: Helen Molesworth, Alzo Slade, Amandla Stenberg, Trifari Williams.

Chomsky vs. Chomsky: First Encounter (Canada-Germany – Lead Artist: Sandra Rodriguez, Key Collaborators: Michael Burk, Cindy Bisho, Johannes Helberger) ― A prologue to a timely conversation on AI’s biggest promises and pitfalls. Lured by the possibility of emulating one of today’s most famous minds, we meet and engage with CHOMSKY_AI, an entity under construction, evolving from the arsenal of digital traces professor Noam Chomsky has left behind. Cast: Sandra Rodriguez, Michael Burk, Cindy Bishop, Johannes Helberger, Moov.AI.

Hominidae (Lead Artist: Brian Andrews, Key Collaborators: Brian Ferguson, Robert Steel, Kahra Scott-James) ― Against a landscape of X-ray imagery and wild anatomical reimagination, a mother and her children struggle for survival. This experience follows an Arachnid Hominid, an intelligent creature with human and spider physiology, from the birth of her children to her premature death in the teeth of her prey. Cast: Phyllis Griffin, Luis Mora, Emily Weems, Kidjie Boyer, Austin Daly, Oliver Angus.

VR CINEMA

Sandlines, the Story of History (Iraq – Director, screenwriter and producer: Francis Alÿs) — The children of a mountain village near Mosul re-enact a century of Iraqi history, from the secret Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916 to the realm of terror imposed by the Islamic State in 2016. The children revisit their past to understand their present.

NEW FRONTIER SHORTS

How Did We Get Here? (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Miles) — A visual exploration of progressive atrophy. A study in how microscopic changes can go unnoticed, but amass over time. Even as these changes become drastic, we sometimes fail to realize anything has happened at all.

See the full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sundance-2020-frontier-program-seeks-210024741.html

Also see - https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2019/12/16/4-trends-that-could-define-immersive-entertainment-in-2020/#1eb89e5b4c4a