Two new NFB virtual reality works will be presented at the Sundance Film Festival next month, along with an award-winning short doc set in British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii.

Recognizing creators who push the boundaries of storytelling with new and immersive technologies, New Frontiers is featuring the world premiere of The Book of Distance, the first VR work by acclaimed Toronto-based artist and filmmaker Randall Okita (The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer), as well as a prologue to the AI project Chomsky vs. Chomsky: First Encounter (NFB/Schnellebuntebilder/EyeSteelFilm), created by distinguished Montreal-based creative director, filmmaker and sociologist of media technologies Sandra Rodriguez.

Presented in the festival’s Short Film section, Now Is the Time is the latest work by award-winning Vancouver-based Haida director, animator and illustrator Christopher Auchter (The Mountain of SGaana), which had its world premiere earlier this year at TIFF.

• To read the full press release, please click in the link below
  PressRelease_NFB@Sundance2020
• To access the NFB schedule of screenings and activities, please click in the link below
  NFB@Sundance schedule 2020

2020 | Virtual Reality Experience

In 1935, Yonezo Okita left his home in Hiroshima, Japan for Canada. Then war and racism changed everything. Three generations later his grandson leads us on an interactive pilgrimage through an emotional geography of immigration and family to recover what was lost.

Written and directed by Randall Okita
Producer David Oppenheim
Executive Producer Anita Lee

ONLINE PRESS KIT
MEDIASPACE.NFB.CA/THE-BOOK-OF-DISTANCE

SCHEDULE AND TICKETS HERE
New Frontier At The Ray | Park City Venues

Friday, January 24th
4:30 PM | 7:00 PM

Saturday, January 25th
5:00 PM | 7:30 PM

Sunday, January 26th
12:00 PM | 5:00 PM | 7:30 PM

Monday, January 27th
10:00 AM | 12:30 PM | 2:45 PM

Tuesday, January 28th
10:00 AM | 2:45 PM | 5:30 PM | 8:00 PM

Wednesday, January 29th
10:00 AM | 12:30 PM | 5:30 PM | 8:00 PM

Thursday, January 30th
12:30 PM | 2:45 PM | 5:30 PM | 8:00 PM

Friday, January 31st
10:00 AM | 12:30 PM | 3:00 PM | 5:30 PM

Saturday, February 1st
10:00 AM | 12:30 PM | 3:00 PM

2020 | Virtual Reality Experience

A prologue to a timely conversation on AI’s biggest promises and pitfalls. Lured by the possibility of emulating one of today’s most famous minds, we meet and engage with CHOMSKY_AI, an entity under construction, evolving from the arsenal of digital traces professor Noam Chomsky has left behind.

Created by Sandra Rodriguez
Producers Sandra Rodriguez (EyeSteelFilm), Sebastian Huber (Schnellebuntebilder) and Marie-Pier Gauthier (NFB Digital Studio)
Executive Producers Bob Moore (EyeSteelFilm), Louis-Richard Tremblay and Hugues Sweeney (NFB Digital Studio), and Michaela Pnacekova (Schnellebuntebilder), and was funded by the Canada-Germany Digital Media Incentive. The experience is supported in part by Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Lab Programs with a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

ONLINE PRESS KIT
MEDIASPACE.NFB.CA/CHOMSKY-VS-CHOMSKY

SCHEDULE AND TICKETS HERE
New Frontier Central | Park City Venues

Friday, January 24th
3:00 PM

Saturday, January 25th
10:00 AM | 5:00 PM

Sunday, January 26th
10:00 AM | 5:00 PM

Monday, January 27th
10:00 AM | 5:00 PM

Tuesday, January 28th
10:00 AM | 5:00 PM

Wednesday, January 29th
10:00 AM | 5:00 PM

Thursday, January 30th
10:00 AM | 5:00 PM

Friday, January 31st
10:00 AM | 3:00 PM

2019 | 16 min

When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he was instrumental in changing the history of his people forever. With help from his grandparents, his father, and his younger brother Reg, Davidson committed to carving the first new totem pole in Old Massett in almost a century.

On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

Resplendent with animation, emotional interviews, and original footage shot by what was then known as the NFB’s Indian Film Crew, Now Is The Time captures three generations of Eagle and Raven clan working together to raise the pole in the old way, inching it higher and higher, until it stands proud and strong against the clear blue sky.

A film by Christopher Auchter
Producer Selwyn Jacob
Associate Producer Teri Snelgrove
Executive Producer Shirley Vercruysse

ONLINE PRESS KIT
MEDIASPACE.NFB.CA/NOW-IS-THE-TIME

SCREENING TIMES AND TICKETS HERE

Sunday, January 26th
9:00 PM | Temple Theatre | Park City Theaters

Monday, January 27th
3:00 PM | Broadway Centre Cinema 6 | Salt Lake City

Tuesday, January 28th >
3:00 PM | Redstone Cinema 7 | Park City Theaters

Friday, January 31st
7:00 PM | Holiday Village Cinema 4 | Park City Theaters