The 2016 edition of New Frontier at the Festival includes three feature films and a live performance, as well as 30 VR experiences and eleven installations in the more than 10,000-square-foot exhibition, taking place at multiple venues: Park City’s historic Claim Jumper, The Gateway, a large-scale installation on Swede Alley by Chris Milk and a performance by Gingger Shankar at Festival Base Camp Presented by Canada Goose.
In addition to a physical exhibition at the Festival, audiences everywhere will be able to experience more than 20 virtual reality pieces on mobile VR headsets. This year’s Festival will also include a program of New Frontier short films to be announced at a later date.
Cameraperson
(Director: Kirsten Johnson) — By exposing her role behind the camera, Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage that she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation into the power of the camera. World Premiere
DRAMAS | DOCUMENTARIES | INT’L DRAMAS | INT’L DOCUMENTARIES | NEXT | PREMIERES
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES | SPOTLIGHT | SUNDANCE KIDS | SPECIAL EVENTS
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS | INSTALLATIONS | VIRTUAL REALITY | MIDNIGHT SHORTS | ANIMATED SHORTS | FROM THE COLLECTION | GALLERY
The Illinois Parables
(Director and screenwriter: Deborah Stratman) — This suite of Midwestern parables about faith, force, technology, and exodus questions the role belief plays in national identity. In our desire to make sense of the inscrutable, who do we end up blaming or endorsing? Cast: C. Felton Jennings II, Anna Toborg, Joshua Frieman, José Oubrerie, Daniel Verdier, David Gatten. World Premiere
Nari
Artists: Gingger Shankar, Dave Liang, Sun Yunfan
The unsung story of Lakshmi Shankar and her daughter, Viji—two extraordinary artists who helped bring Indian music to the West in the 1970s through their close collaboration with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. This arresting, multi-generational, multimedia mash-up features animation, family archives, and a live performance. U.S. Premiere
Notes on Blindness
(Directors and screenwriters: Peter Middleton, James Spinney) — After losing his sight, John Hull knew that not understanding blindness would destroy him. In 1983, he began to keep an audio diary. His recordings represent a unique testimony of loss, rebirth, and renewal, excavating the experience of blindness and documenting his discovery of “a world beyond sight.” Project includes a mobile VR experience. Cast: Dan Skinner, Simone Kirby. World Premiere