Sundance New Frontier 2021 features 14 immersive experiences that will be accessible via the $25 Sundance Explorer pass starting on Friday, January 29th until Wednesday, February 3, 2021. The New Frontier site will also be hosting virtual premiere parties on their “Film Party” platform featuring six films at a time within a 3-hour window. This will be a chance for the directors producers of the 71 Sundance films and New Frontier pieces to have their own virtual premiere party throughout the festival. The schedule will be displayed within the Film Party virtual environment, but you can also see it in this PDF of the premiere schedule.
I talk with Shari Frilot, Senior Sundance Programmer and Chief Curator of New Frontier, in order to get a sneak peak of the 14 experiences at Sundance New Frontier 2021, as well as as overview of all of the virtual gatherings & film parties, the New Frontier Gallery Space, and the four virtual cinema house screenings (details below).
There will be a Virtual Film Party Bar that is VR-enabled as well has webcam support where clusters of 8 people will be able to have conversations within an opt-in, audio bubble that needs to be initiated. The capacity will be 250 people, but new instances will be spun up once it reaches capacity. The Film Party premieres for each of the films will be capped at 250 people. All of the New Frontier directors will be having their premiere parties on either Monday, February 1st or Tuesday, February 2nd.
The New Frontier Gallery will also have infinite instances of 250 people, but there will be no webcam support. There will be VR-chat enabled though, and so this will be a great place for the VR community to gather.
There will be an unofficial New Frontier Opening Night Party in the Virtual New Frontier Gallery on Friday, January 29, 2021 at starting at around 7 or 8p PST.
There will also be a virtual cinema showing four films in virtual reality as a part of the Explorer Pass. Capacity is 200 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Here’s schedule for the Virtual Cinema House for Sundance 2021:
- Friday, January 29, 8 pm MST (7 pm PST) – Documentary Shorts
- Sunday, January 31, 3 pm MST (2 pm PST) – Station to Station
- Monday, February 1, 7 pm MST (6 pm PST) – Users
- Tuesday, February 2, 4 pm MST (3p PST) – Mother of George
Also, for fans of simulation theory, there’s a midnight documentary called A Glitch in the Matrix, which premieres on Saturday, January 30, 2021, 10 pm MST (9 pm PST). Individual movie tickets are $15 each, and there are still tickets available for a number of screenings.
Facebook sent all of the Sundance 2021 directors Oculus Quest 2 headsets, and so these Sundance New Frontier virtual spaces could a really good opportunity to connect and network with the independent filmmaker community.
You can catch all of the other details for Sundance 2021 in my interview with Shari below (or you can also check out No Proscenium Podcast #278 for more context & information from Shari & Active Theory).
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Music: Fatality
