NEW NATURE, SCIENCE, & TECH STORIES UNFOLD AT SUNDANCE 2016
The stories of science and technology come alive in a new crop of films and virtual reality experiences. We are sharing our favorites from the Sundance Film Festival 2016. Check them out below.
ESCAPE POD
Escape Pod is a looped 20-minute computer-animated film that takes you on a surrealistic journey in the company of a golden deer. In one continuous tracking shot, Lead Artist/Director Jonathan Mohaghan moves the deer and you through a new reality --- through metaphorical environments of wealth, power, and authority. There are no humans here. Rather, this is a story about human quests.
See the trailer here.
RESILIENCE
What if all illnesses could be linked to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)? That’s the notion explored by filmmaker James Redford in his new film, Resilience.
The film explores new research which points to previously unconnected links between childhood traumas and adult diseases. It tells the story of two of the doctors who pioneered this work. It offers insights into how to best treat families dealing with “toxic stress.”
Beyond the serious subject matter, the loads of fascinating info presented, and the possibilities it raises, we are entranced by composer Garth Stevenson’s musical score of the film.
LO AND BEHOLD REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD
While there have been a number of great films that have explored the phenomenon of connectedness in the Age of Internet, filmmaker Werner Herzog looks at it a bit differently, through his own lens in his new film, Lo and Behold Reveries of the Connected World.
Herzog’s view is both chilling and irreverent, developed through a series of interviews as he probed the minds of a wide range of Internet players, from pioneers to users, from creators to victims.
Herzog is both enthusiastic and cautionary. He anthropomorphizes the Internet, wondering if it will dream or consider its own existence. He wonders if it can develop morality or if it can love?
UNLOCKING THE CAGE
Animal rights activist Steven Wise wants to utilize the writ of habeas corpus to expand legal “personhood” to include certain animals. Unlocking The Cage, a new documentary by filmmakers D A Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus, follows Wise as he navigates the court system with this clients, Tommy and Kiko, two former celebrity chimpanzees who are now living in squalor and struggling to survive.
The film present the science, the psychology, and the legalities involved in giving animals more “human” rights. And it raises the question of why there should be such a disparity between them. Why are non-human rights any less important than human rights?
NOTES ON BLINDNESS
A film about blindness is inherently oxymoronic on some levels. Filmmakers James Spinney and Peter Middleton take on the challenge of visually capturing the essence of blindness, from the perspective of the blind, in their new film, Notes on Blindness.
The film recreates the early life of writer and theologian John Hull, who between 1983 and 1986, kept a series of audio diaries that documented his experience going blind. The late Oliver Sacks described it as “the most extraordinary, precise, deep and beautiful account of blindness I have ever read. It is to my mind a masterpiece.”
With breathtaking innovative vision, Notes on Blindness beautifully portrays the harsh realities of losing one’s sight and the new insights, feelings and abilities gained as a result, delivered in a unique surreal, yet visceral story. “Cognition is a beautiful thing.”
Check out the trailer here.
NOTES ON BLINDNESS -- INTO DARKNESS
Notes on Blindness - Into Darkness is a virtual reality experience that incorporated John Hull's original recordings with real-time 3-D virtual reality tech, and binaural sound, to enable you to explore the world of the blind as if it were now your world.
Here is more info about the Notes on Blindness - Into Darkness Virtual Reality Experience.
HOW TO LET GO OF THE WORLD (AND LOVE ALL THE THINGS CLIMATE CAN'T CHANGE)
While it is a dire subject, of critical importance, with an imperative reason for concern and action, the focus on climate change is handled with both passion and grace in How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change), a new documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox.
Fox traveled around the world to connect people in places that are already impacted by climate change. He finds both tragedy and inspiration. While many humans have caused the damage, many are finding creative ways to survive, and even help solve the problem.
Read more about Beautiful Storytelling, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including New Beautiful Stories Unfold at Sundance Festival 2016.
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IMAGE CREDITS:
- Image: Courtesy of Jonathan Monaghan. Escape Pod.
- Image: Courtesy of Jonathan Monaghan. Escape Pod.
- Image: Courtesy of Garth Stevenson. Garth Stevenson, composer of Resilience score.
- Image: Courtesy of Lo and Behold Reveries of the Connected World.
- Image: Courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films. Unlocking The Cage.
- Image: Courtesy of Notes on Blindness. Notes on Blindness.
- Image: Courtesy of Notes on Blindness. Notes on Blindness.
- Image: Courtesy of Notes on Blindness. Notes on Blindness - Into the Darkness.
- Image: Courtesy of How To Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change).
- Image: Courtesy of How To Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change).
- Image: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.
- Image: by BN App - Download now!
- Image: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.
