TRIBECA IMMERSIVE'S VIRTUAL ARCADE AND STORYSCAPES PROJECTS UNVEILED FOR THE 2017 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

TRIBECA IMMERSIVE'S VIRTUAL ARCADE AND STORYSCAPES PROJECTS UNVEILED FOR THE 2017 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL March 3rd, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TRIBECA IMMERSIVES VIRTUAL ARCADE AND STORYSCAPES PROJECTS UNVEILED FOR THE 2017 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

Program Includes Artistic Gems, Comedies, Complex Artistic Portraits, and Political and Social Action Films that will Engage, Inspire and Entertain

NEW YORK, NY- March 3, 2017 -The 2017 Tribeca Film Festival continues to push the boundaries of storytelling through technology and creativity in this year's Tribeca Immersive program, presented by AT&T. With 29 virtual reality (VR) and innovative exhibitions, Tribeca Immersive presents thought-provoking experiences and installations from top creators and emerging artists, including 20 world premieres. This year, Storyscapes and Virtual Arcade exhibitions will run concurrently throughout the Festival at the Tribeca Festival Hub, located at 50 Varick Street. The 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, takes place April 19-30.

The Tribeca Film Festival has been the premier curator of cutting-edge interactive storytelling for more than a decade - from the first film shot entirely on a cell phone in 2007 to spotlighting independent online content creators. Within this year's Immersive program, the Storyscapes and Virtual Arcade exhibits will feature a diverse array of projects that are rooted in documentary, narrative and music, providing an intense program of experiential storytelling for audiences to explore. Established VR creators and studios debuting new pieces include: Marshmallow Laser Feast, Gabo Arora, Baobab Studios, Oculus Story Studios, Penrose Studios, and Within. Both Storyscapes and Virtual Arcade open to the public on Friday, April 21.

Storyscapes, which celebrates its fifth year this spring, was created in 2013 to bridge filmmaking, technology, and storytelling. At the 2017 Festival, the Storyscapes juried showcase will continue to present new trends and innovative work across mediums that integrate various forms of audience participation with six VR and interactive installations focusing on emotion and the human experience. The projects tackle topics including an exploration of autobiography in VR, a hunger to connect with the world around us, recounting life in a concentration camp, perception and identity, and the secret lives of strangers.

Artists allow us to see the world differently. They peel back layers of reality to show us new ways of thinking, using story, and technology to reveal truths and possibilities, said Ingrid Kopp, curator of Storyscapes. It is thrilling to be exhibiting such a dynamic range of projects in the fifth year of Storyscapes and at a time when there is so much creativity and energy in the interactive space. It has been wonderful to witness audience interest in immersive work grow over the past few years and to see how artists have responded to this excitement.

The Virtual Arcade, which debuted at the 2016 Festival, returns for 2017 to entertain, inspire and transport participants with a range of experiences from animated epics to post-apocalyptic landscapes.

As VR has continued to evolve technologically, so has the storytelling. Our mission is to shine a light on those creators pushing the boundaries of the medium to move beyond the demo phase and deliver on the promise of fully realized stories and truly transformative experiences, said Loren Hammonds, Programmer, Film & Experiential at Tribeca Film Festival.

STORYSCAPES

The 2017 Storyscapes selections include six projects from four countries, three of the projects are world premieres. One project will be selected by a jury to receive the Storyscapes Award, presented by AT&T, which recognizes groundbreaking approaches in storytelling and technology.

Blackout (World Premiere)

Project Creators: Scatter: Alexander Porter, Yasmin Elayat, James George, Mei-Ling Wong

Key Collaborators: Hannah Jayanti

Blackout is an ongoing participatory, volumetric VR project gathering the reflections of real people living in today's tense political climate through the lens of the New York subway. By creating a rotating, crowd-sourced' cast, Blackout addresses the impossible task of representing the extraordinary breadth of human experience in New York City. Each viewing of Blackout is different, surrounding you with a unique group of straphangers taking you to the places their minds go between destinations.

Draw Me Close (World Premiere)

Project Creator: Jordan Tannahill

Canadian playwright-director Jordan Tannahill partners with the National Theatre and the National Film Board of Canada to create Draw Me Close, a vivid memoir about his relationship with his mother in the wake of her terminal cancer diagnosis. Collapsing the worlds of live performance and animation to create an unforgettable encounter between a mother and her son, Draw Me Close tells the story of their past and what is to be their future. This special presentation is a world premiere of the first chapter of Draw Me Close.

The Island of the Colorblind (International Premiere)

Project Creator: Sanne de Wilde

Key Collaborators: IDFA DocLab, de Brakke Grond

What does color mean to those who can't see it? In the late eighteenth century a catastrophic typhoon swept over Pingelap, a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean. One of the few survivors carried a rare gene that causes achromatopsia, a condition that includes the inability to distinguish colors. Over generations, the islanders ended up perceiving their world in black and white. The Island of the Colorblind invites the audience to explore this shift in perception through de Wilde's photography and an interactive installation

The Last Goodbye (World Premiere)

Project Creators: Gabo Arora, Ari Palitz

Key Collaborator: Stephen Smith, Tim

LINK:	https://tribecafilm.com/press-center/festival/press-releases/tribeca-i...
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