Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute today announced the six projects selected for the New Frontier Story Lab, October 22-27 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Inspired by New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival and built on the renowned Sundance Institute Lab model, the Lab specifically supports artists innovating the art and form of storytelling at the convergence of film, visual art, media, live performance, music and technology.The selected creative teams and projects are: Karim Ben Khelifa and Chlo Jarry (The Enemy), Dandypunk and Darin Basile (Heart Corps), Tracy Fullerton and Lucas Peterson (Walden, A Game), Braden King and Matthew Moore (Weather), Hasan Minhaj and Greg Walloch (Sakoon/Paint The Town) and Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari (1979 Revolution).
Activities at the weeklong Lab include individualized story sessions, conversations about key artistic, design and technology issues, and case study presentations from experts in diverse related disciplines. The Lab is a key initiative of Sundance Institutes recently expanded New Frontier program.
Robert Redford, President and Founder of Sundance Institute, said, Rooted in Sundance Institutes mission to support risk-taking artists is an encouragement of innovation in the independent space. The New Frontier Story Lab supports our mission by providing a safe place for artists to define and advance emerging styles of storytelling.
Kamal Sinclair, Co-Director, New Frontier Lab Programs, said, Story is at the heart of the New Frontier Story Labs dynamic process, which encourages artists to create interactive, immersive and experimental experiences for audiences that explore new media. We look forward to bringing these artists and expert Creative Advisors together for an experiment in the convergence of story disciplines.
Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, said, During the New Frontier Story Lab, fellows will engage with a variety of industry leaders across multiple disciplines to both innovate and collaborate on new ways of storytelling through gaming, design and live performance. This interactive space is exciting for artists who will create ground-breaking work and audiences who are hungry for an immersive art experience.
Creative Advisors for the New Frontier Story Lab include: Sarah Treem (Producer/Writer, House of Cards, In Treatment); Torfi Frans Olafsson (Creative Director, EVE Online Universe IP); Mark Monroe (Filmmaker, The Cove, Sound City); Dana Dansereau (Interactive Producer, NFBs Digital Studio, Bear 71); Nelson George (Filmmaker/Producer, Good Hair, Life Support, The Chris Rock Show); Kathleen Forde (Artistic Director at Large, Borusan Contemporary); Susan OConnor, (Video Game Writer, Tomb Raider, BioShock); Ricardo Rivera (Founder, Klip Collective); Scott Snibbe (Bj rks Biophilia, Phillip Glass ReWork); Joan Tewkesbury (Writer/Director, Nashville, Chicago Hope); Lynette Wallworth (Artist, Evolution of Fearlessness, Coral: Rekindling Venus); Erin Cressida Wilson (Screenwriter, Secretary, Chloe); Ted Schilowitz (Futurist, 20th Century Fox; founding member, RED Digital Cinema); and Kevin Kuhlke (Playwright/Director, former Chair of the Drama Dept. at NYUs Tisch School of The Arts).
In addition to the New Frontier Story Lab, the Institute offers Labs throughout the year and around the world for independent directors, screenwriters, documentary editors, composers, playwrights and producers.
The creative teams and projects selected for the 2014 New Frontier Story Lab are:
1979 Revolution
Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari
1979 Revolution, the action/adventure game, immerses players into the gritty, euphoric streets of revolution where the choices you make may betray you. Set in the actual events of 1979 Iran.
A founder of iNK Stories, Navid Khonsari is known for having developed the cinematic look and feel for groundbreaking video games such as Grand Theft Auto/Vice City/San Andreas, Max Payne, The Warriors, Midnight Club, Manhunt, Red Dead Revolver, Alan Wake, Homefront and more. His films include The Contract, Pindemonium and Pulling John. Khonsari recently completed his first graphic novel, Infidel. Khonsari can be found as a guest lecturer within the Game World focusing on the discourse surrounding the convergence of politics and gaming or the potential of games to incite empathy.
Vassiliki Khonsari arrived at filmmaking through Visual Anthropology, with a specialty in verite storytelling. In addition to her TV Producer/Director credits, Khonsaris Doc Feature Producer credits include Our House (20+ awards) and Pindemonium (Sundance Channel) and she directed the award winning Pulling John (premiered at SXSW). As co-founder of the innovative media studio iNK Stories Vassiliki is passionate about her current development projects that focus on immersive stories.
Weather
Braden King and Matthew Moore
Weather is a multi-platform, multi-channel interactive installation that seeks to create a deeper and more tangible connection to the impacts of Global Climate Change through emotional experience.
Braden King is a New York-based filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. His most recent feature film, HERE, starring Ben Foster and Lubna Azabal, premiered at the 2011 Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals and was distributed theatrically by Strand Releasing in 2012. A three-screen installation version of the project, HERE [ THE STORY SLEEPS ], premiered at The Museum of Modern Art in 2010 with live soundtrack accompaniment by the Boxhead Ensemble; it toured internationally the following two years. Kings previous work includes the feature film DUTCH HARBOR: WHERE THE SEA BREAKS ITS BACK (co-directed with photographer Laura Moya), the award-winning short HOME MOVIE and music videos for Sparklehorse, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham), Califone and Dirty Three.
Mat
