By Travis Johnson
The 63rd Sydney Film Festival will host three different immersive cinema experiences that showcase the bleeding edge of entertainment technology., under the umbrella Beyond Cinema.
As described by Festival Director Nashen Moodley, “The Festival’s new immersive program expands the Sydney Film Festival experience by presenting three new ways of experiencing film, art, and storytelling. From virtual reality, to 360-degree 3D cinema, to a four sided video art installation, the Festival encourages audiences to explore new worlds, new perspectives, and new ways to enjoy film.”
Sydney’s Lower Town Hall will play host to Down The Rabbit Hole – Virtual Reality at the Hub (9-19 June), programmed by Matthieu Ravier and co-presented by Jumpgate VR. Nine virtual reality movies will be screened, including four from Australian artists and three from overseas. Audiences will be able to walk through the streets of Havana in A History of Cuban Dance, take to the stage with the Sydney Dance Company in Stuck in the Middle With You, climb into the saddle in Warwick Gold – Australian Rodeo, get lost in the worlds of Lewis Carroll in Fabulous Wonder.Land, experience blindness in Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness, be a ghost in Madeleine, march as an army officer in Chile’s Caravan of Death in Assent, enter a completely hand-drawn world in Drawing Room, and encounter a lonely flower in The Rose and I.
Two interactive experimental films will make their debut at the University of New South Wales’ world-leading 360-degree 3D iCinema: Deluge, which deals with 2011’s devastating Cyclone Yasi; and Nebula, which looks at the complex relationship between the human and natural worlds. Both run from 8 – 18 June.
Finally, Hossein Valmanesh: Char Soo (9 June – 17 July) is presented in conjunction with Carriageworks. It’s a four-sided video installation that puts the viewer right in the middle of an Iranian bazaar to contemplate human movement, interaction and the passing of time.
Additionally, creatives and industry members are invited to a free panel discussion, Diving Down the VR Rabbit Hole, at 12pm on Saturday, June 11, featuring writer Mike Jones and selection of VR filmmakers who are exhibiting at the Festival.
Sydney Contemporary: Australia in Focus also returns for the second year, a free exhibition of video art by 13 different artists.
The Sydney Film Festival runs from June 8 – 19, 2016, with the full program being launched on Wednesday, May 11, at 11am EST. For more info, head to the official site.
