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ArtPower at UC san Diego Announces
the Third Annual Filmatic Festival
Explore the Art of Science and Cinema
on May 7, 2016, at the Qualcomm Institute
La Jolla, C.A.—The 2016 Filmatic Festival will explore NextGen filmgoing through the worlds of virtual reality and immersive experiences/storytelling. According to The Wrap, “virtual reality is the fastest-growing medium in entertainment and Hollywood studios are scrambling to stay one step ahead of the competition.” Part of ArtPower’s multi-arts season of music, dance, and film—Filmatic Festival aims to explore the art of science and cinema through over 20 demonstrations, presentations, and performances by virtual reality industry leaders and international artists, as well as UC San Diego faculty and students. The festival takes place on Saturday, May 7, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Qualcomm Institute.
Led by Rebecca Webb (ArtPower film curator and Filmatic Festival founder), the 2016 festival will showcase multimedia works to immerse audiences in an engaging world of storytelling and scientific research. “This year, Filmatic is right at the heart of this exciting movement—uniquely positioned to present some of the top virtual reality research in the world and showcase the latest cinematic adventures in virtual reality,” explains Webb. “The Qualcomm Institute’s collaboration with the Filmatic Festival is a natural evolution of our institute’s focus on new media arts, virtual reality and technology-enabled design,” said Ramesh Rao, director of the UC San Diego division of Calit2. “QI’s state-of-the-art audio-visual and virtual reality technologies provide the film-going experience of the future, and our affiliated artists and researchers provide the content that keep this type of visual storytelling alive. We are pleased to be a part of this collaboration, which will allow us to showcase the capabilities of both our venue and our researchers.”
Filmatic kicks off with a presentation by Larry Smarr, Director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2); physicist; and a leader in the scientific computing, supercomputer applications, and internet infrastructure. Other highlights include the California premiere of Collision, created by acclaimed artist Lynette Wallworth. Recently premiered at the World Economic Forum and Sundance Film Festival, the film tells the story of Aboriginal elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan in the remote desert of Western Australia. Through the close interplay of artistic and technological innovation, virtual reality industry leaders Felix & Paul will showcase four cinematic virtual storytelling adventures—Strangers with Patrick Watson; Nomads: Herders; Wild: The Experience; and Jurassic World: Apatosaurus. Multisensory Systems (MSS) will bring its sensory vehicle, Journey 2–G chair with AromaComposerTM, which provides new VR experience through programmed sound, motion, and aroma. Virtual reality artist Ben Vance will present Irrational Exuberance, an interactive art experience that gives the viewer an intimate connection to the possibilities and wonders of space. (See full list of offerings attached/below).
Tickets for Filmatic Festival goes on sale February 29.
Half Day/Morning (10 a.m. – 5 p.m.) $20 Regular; $5 UCSD students
Half Day/Evening (5–10 p.m.) $20 Regular; $5 UCSD students
Includes screenings of:
Deriving Worlds and Making the Past Present
All Day Pass, including screenings of: $35 Regular; $10 UCSD students
Deriving Worlds and Making the Past Present
Tickets can be purchased by phone at 858.534.TIXS; online at boxoffice.ucsd.edu; or in person at the UC San Diego Box Office, Price Center Plaza, Monday–Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Closed Saturday and Sunday).
List of Presentations, Installations, Performances
Subject to Change
Assembly Cognogenesis
Assembly Cognogensis is a shared virtual reality environment where two users collaborate within an artificial life world to cultivate the symbiotic relationship between imagination and the evolving environmental system. Wearing neurotechnology with a virtual reality interface, users guide the “creative evolution” of a rich audiovisual ecosystem of sounds, images, and objects. The project is created by Sheldon Brown and his lab at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and computational neuroscientist Tim Mullen of Qusp.
Audio Spatialization Lab Demos
Get immersed in virtual acoustic space at the state-of-the-art spatial sound lab at Calit2. The real-time acoustic simulations will transport virtual reality experiences to the next level. You won’t believe your ears!
Cinematic Virtual Reality
Experience film like never before by fully immersing yourself in a new cinematic virtual storytelling adventure created by industry leaders Felix & Paul.
Strangers with Patrick Watson
Experience a one-on-one encounter with celebrated musician Patrick Watson at his Montreal studio.
Nomads: Herders
Quietly observe the lives of nomadic yak herders in Mongolia.
Wild: The Experience
Enter the world of Fox Searchlight’s feature film Wild in an exceptionally intimate moment between Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern’s characters along the Pacific Coast trail.
Jurassic World: Apatosaurus
In close proximity to a living dinosaur, Jurassic World: Apatosaurus offers a moment of awe, beauty, and danger.
Collisions (California Premiere)
Created by acclaimed artist Lynette Wallworth, Collision transports audience via virtual reality to a remote desert in western Australia to witness the conflict between the Aboriginal and western culture through the story of indigenous leader Nyarri Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe. Collision premiered in January 2016 at Sundance Film Festival and The World Economic Forum.
Deriving Worlds (California Premiere)
Can images be heard? Can sounds be seen? Experience the familiar in unexpected ways through musical compositions inspired by Chinese ink paintings and digitally animated calligraphy created by composer Lei Liang along with cinematographer and editor Keita Funakawa.
Figuratively Speaking
Figuratively Speaking is a virtual environment for exploration and contemplation. In Margaret Dolinsky’s made believe world—bulbous faces are bobbing up and down on hillsides as they are overlooking the water. The friendly little buoyant bodies speak in metaphorical tones. Their dialogue, musical yet undecipherable, leads the visitor through a world of fantasy where they live in play, confrontation and worship.
Ingress Gaming Meetup
Join Flint Dille, creative lead of Ingress, to play the augmented reality game and meet other players at this official Ingress event that will explore UC San Diego monuments and landmarks including the Stuart Collection. All attendees are encouraged to participate.
Instagram Wall
Be a social media rock star as Filmatic features your photos on a live Instagram feed and have fun engaging with your fellow festival goers. #filmaticfestival2016 #filmatic2016
Irrational Exuberance (California Premiere)
Uniquely designed for room-scale VR by artist Ben Vance with collaborators Sam Bird and Joel Corelitz, Irrational Exuberance is an interactive art experience that gives the viewer an intimate connection to the possibilities and wonders of space—where mysterious phenomena, hidden beauty, and the infinite await.
It’s a Visual Revolution!
We are in deep in the midst of a visual revolution. Join our panel of experts from across industries and disciplines as they explore the world of cinema, advertising, cinema, social media through the lens of virtual/augmented reality and cinematic visual effects, and discuss their visions of cinema in the 22nd century.
Journeyer 2-G and AromaComposerTM
Never leave your chair as you travel far and wide in an immersive outer space experience that utilizes all your senses. Created by Multisensory Systems (MSS), the Journeyer 2-G and AromaComposerTM provide dramatic new sensory experiences combining programmed sound, motion, and aroma.
Line
A video projection-mapped sculpture, Line is a structure inspired by the iconographic lifeguard towers found on every San Diego beach. Created in collaboration with Trevor Amery and Rebecca Webb, Line alludes conceptually and poetically to both the beauty and destructiveness of water.
Making the Past Present
The ravages of time, natural and man-made disasters, pollution, fatigue, overexposure, and mismanagement, have all taken a major toll on world cultural heritage. Yet there is hope. Explore the power of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) through the lens of next generation digital cinema and literally walk into the arena of scientific discovery and storytelling.
Quantum Imagination and Cosmic Intelligence (California Premiere)
Our experiences have concrete, tangible limits: anything beyond our sight eludes us. In Quantum Imagination, these limits dissolve. Enter a world where the invisible is visible, and explore the infinitesimal particles and processes that make up existence. It isn’t an alternate reality; this nanoscale world is your own. Audience members will be able to design their own nano world using software platform 1nano by NanoVR.
Rhodopsin for Filmatic
Especially designed for Filmatic, this reenvisioned installation employs film, light, and sound to encourage visitors to think about the process of perception. Organized by WSOHOIDPS (A SHIP IN THE WOODS), the team includes sound artist Greg Smaller, Salk Institute neurobiologist John Reynolds, and is based on the work of vision scientist Patrick Cavanagh.
Solarium (California Premiere)
Solarium is a large-scale, immersive, and site-specific 4K digital video installation of the sun, using images captured by NASA spacecraft Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). With images that are eight times the resolution as an HDTV, SDO watches ultraviolet light invisible to the naked eye to track how material dances through the solar atmosphere.
Sonar (California Premiere)
Sonar is a new kind of cinematic entertainment—striking a balance between traditional movie making and interactive media. Created by artists Philipp Maas, Dominik Stockhausen, and Alexander Mass, this short film is a fully immersive, slow-paced, 360° computer-generated experience created for various virtual reality headsets. An asteroid emerges from the darkness of space, sending signals. A drone dives deep into an extensive cave system in order to locate the source.
Stonemilker (California Premiere)
A virtual reality collaboration between Vrse.works creator Andrew Thomas Huang and artist Björk, Stonemilker explores the possibilities that VR holds for performance platforms outside of the traditional music video world.
Tunnel of Lights
Bliss out when you traverse the tunnel of lights that lead up to the Filmatic Festival at the Qualcomm Institute.
UC San Diego Virtual Reality Club Demonstrations
UC San Diego’s first VR club is open to all students—artists, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts alike. Check out some of the innovative 3D user interaction projects the club has been working on all year.
Ursa Major (California Premiere)
A three channel video projection-mapped universe created by visual artist Gareth Walsh, Ursa Major will transform Tim Hawkinson’s 180-ton Bear sculpture into a galactic spectacle of light, optical illusion, and movement. The artwork is inspired by the Ursa Major constellation, also known as the Great Bear.
Visionary Guest Speaker
Our very special Visionary Keynote speaker (TBA) will enthrall audience members with topics that include the future of cinema, collective virtual reality, and multi-platform audience engagement.
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