National Film Board of Canada unveils new directions in immersive storytelling. NFB returns to the Sundance Film Festival with groundbreaking VR experiences in New Frontier program and an innovative, archive-based short film
News Release
January 5, 2016 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
A world leader in immersive storytelling, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is back at the Sundance Film Festival this year with two new virtual reality (VR) experiences in the festival’s New Frontier showcase―the Turbulent/NFB co-production The Unknown Photographer and a sneak preview of its upcoming Cardboard Crash―as well as the archive-based NFB short Mobilize, an innovative exploration of Indigenous identity, featured in the festival’s Short Film Program.
Directed by Loïc Suty, and co-produced by Turbulent and the NFB’s Digital Studio in Montreal, The Unknown Photographer is a surreal plunge into the fragmented memories of a First World War photographer, whose work was discovered in an abandoned barn north of Montreal. A documentary/fiction hybrid unfolding in virtual reality, The Unknown Photographer gives new life to more than 260 long-lost images. Participants stroll through a vivid dreamscape of otherworldly structures and allegorical characters―in a 3D world that invites them to question the power of images and the ravages of war in times past and present. The Unknown Photographer is produced by Claire Buffet (Turbulent) and Louis-Richard Tremblay (NFB) and executive produced by Marc Beaudet (Turbulent) and Hugues Sweeney (NFB).
Previewing at New Frontier in Beta mode, Cardboard Crash is an immersive VR experiment created by Vincent McCurley and the NFB’s Digital Studio in Vancouver. In a world of AI and self-driving cars, who determines the ethics algorithm to handle emergency situations? In Cardboard Crash, the user is slowed down to “bullet time,” becoming the computer, and forced to confront a hard decision where there is plenty of data, but no easy answer. Cardboard Crash is produced and executive produced by Loc Dao for the NFB.
The VR projects at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival are part of a body of more than 50 digital and interactive works that the NFB has created over 7 years, and will be joined by 20 upcoming NFB immersive experiences, including interactive photo essays and documentaries, animation, installations and live performances.
Founded by the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, New Frontier brings together fiction, non-fiction and hybrid projects to showcase transmedia storytelling, multi-media installations, performances and films.
In the NFB short Mobilize, Algonquin filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Caroline Monnet explores the perpetual negotiation between the modern and the traditional by North American Indigenous peoples, with images culled entirely from outtakes from over 700 NFB films dating back to 1939. Featuring a driving musical score by Canadian Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq, this 3-minute 30-second work takes us on an exhilarating journey from the far north to the urban south.
Mobilize had its festival premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. It was created as part of Souvenir, a series of four short works by Indigenous artists that address Aboriginal identity and representation. Mobilize was produced and executive produced for the NFB by Anita Lee of the NFB’s Ontario Centre in Toronto.
Quick Facts
About The Unknown Photographer
- A graduate of sciences and philosophy, Loïc Suty has always been fascinated by the possibilities of conceptual, creative and narrative innovations in the digital world. He has worked in Web editing in a Parisian musical research lab, as a copywriter in various Parisian agencies and was also Web Marketing Manager for the label Wagram. He has created sound installations and has composed musical pieces for theatre and documentaries. At Turbulent since 2013, he works as an Experience Designer, more specifically on experimental projects such as The Unknown Photographer.
- In November 2015, The Unknown Photographer was showcased at both the Montreal International Documentary Festival (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal – RIDM) and IDFA 2015 DocLab in Amsterdam.
About Cardboard Crash
- Vincent McCurley is a Developer / Creative Technologist at the NFB’s Digital Studio with over 15 years’ experience designing and developing multi-platform interactive projects. Playing a malleable role at the NFB, Vincent often switches between technical director, information architect, UX designer, and programmer to help filmmakers and artists use technology to tell stories in creative and innovative ways. His work in interactive documentary includes the Webby-award-winning projects Bear 71, Welcome to Pine Point, The Last Hunt and God's Lake Narrows. Vincent enjoys sharing his knowledge of interactive media as an instructor at UBC, BCIT and FDU.
About Mobilize
- Caroline Monnet is a member of the ITWE Collective, based in Winnipeg and Montreal. She works in film/video, printmaking and installation, and has been exhibiting in galleries and film festivals around the world. Her short videos Ikwé and Warchild were both selected for TIFF, and her most recent short film, Gephyrophobia, was selected for Telefilm’s Not Short on Talent showcase at Cannes.
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About the NFB
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) creates groundbreaking interactive works, social-issue documentaries and auteur animation. The NFB has produced over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 11 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
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