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As movie theaters struggle during the pandemic, theatrical windows shrink, stars turn to limited series and more viewers get arthouse fare from streamers, where does this leave the role of films in film festivals?
Most festivals launched with a mission to support specialty theatrical films. Yet New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival quietly rebranded as the Tribeca Festival in June to reflect a wider variety of content. It’s just one of several events where small-screen movies and series, concerts, virtual reality and other mediums are becoming main attractions. Offering their expert opinions, the heads of Sundance, Telluride, Toronto, SXSW, Tribeca and Mill Valley told Variety where they think fests are heading, how their roles are shifting and if adding these new elements is crucial to their survival.
Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson had a trial by fire when her inaugural 2021 fest became the first one to show its slate almost exclusively online,...
Most festivals launched with a mission to support specialty theatrical films. Yet New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival quietly rebranded as the Tribeca Festival in June to reflect a wider variety of content. It’s just one of several events where small-screen movies and series, concerts, virtual reality and other mediums are becoming main attractions. Offering their expert opinions, the heads of Sundance, Telluride, Toronto, SXSW, Tribeca and Mill Valley told Variety where they think fests are heading, how their roles are shifting and if adding these new elements is crucial to their survival.
Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson had a trial by fire when her inaugural 2021 fest became the first one to show its slate almost exclusively online,...
- 1/25/2022
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
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Get a headset: That’s what I’ve been telling people for the last year. As film festival screenings and parties devolved into online screenings and Zoom chats, more ambitious opportunities are available for those willing to strap on the gear. And thanks to VR presentations like the ones provided by SXSW 2021, opportunities to access a wider world through VR technologies will stick around when the pandemic recedes.
I began experimenting with VR last summer and since then, I’ve grown fond of roaming online environments in avatar form, seeking the rush of networking and industry buzz that physical festivals provide. At Sundance, that opportunity came in the form of a bespoke platform created by Active Theory; at SXSW, it was French studio VROOm, which built several worlds on social platform VRChat.
Like all of VRchat, the entire space was accessible via PC, but in the third person; headsets provided a more immersive first-person option.
I began experimenting with VR last summer and since then, I’ve grown fond of roaming online environments in avatar form, seeking the rush of networking and industry buzz that physical festivals provide. At Sundance, that opportunity came in the form of a bespoke platform created by Active Theory; at SXSW, it was French studio VROOm, which built several worlds on social platform VRChat.
Like all of VRchat, the entire space was accessible via PC, but in the third person; headsets provided a more immersive first-person option.
- 3/23/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
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