Sundance ’24 | New Frontier

by Tim Gordon

New Frontier champions artists practicing at the crossroads of film, art, performance, and new media technology. This year, the section focuses on the powerful rise of AI, the role of artists in the rapidly changing landscape of technologies, and empowering narrative agency and sustainable creative practice through design.

Being (the Digital Griot) / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Rashaad Newsome) — In this innovative participatory experience, Being, an artificial intelligence digital griot, asks the audience to engage in unifying and challenging discussions. It features a soundscape and movement informed by a dataset from Black communities, theorists, poets, and activists, including bell hooks, Paulo Freire, Dazié Grego-Sykes, and Cornel West.

EnoU.S.A., U.K. (Director: Gary Hustwit) — Visionary musician and artist Brian Eno — known for producing David Bowie, U2, and Talking Heads, among many others; pioneering the genre of ambient music; and releasing over 40 solo and collaboration albums — reveals his creative processes in this groundbreaking generative documentary: a film that’s different every time it’s shown. World Premiere.