TIFF POP 03 | Experience VR and Immersive Media with 6 NFB Works

This summer, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is bringing virtual (VR) reality to the public with POP, a series of curated installations showcasing some of the best virtual storytelling in the world.

The third and final pop-up installation, POP 03: VR + Experimental Film, will take place at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox from August 19-21. (Facebook event here.)

The NFB’s trailblazing work in virtual reality will be on display with five VR experiences, plus a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience: Guy Maddin’s SEANCES.

The installation will also host the world premiere of CUT-OFF, an immersive 360° VR documentary experience that places the viewer in the middle of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s historic visit to Shoal Lake 40, a First Nation in Canada without access to clean water. (In partnership with Vice, CFC and Occupied VR.)

On August 20 at 8 pm, the POP Speaker Series will bring together some of the world’s most interesting makers and thinkers to talk about how technology is continually changing what is meant by “art” and “story.” Loc Dao, Chief Digital Officer of the NFB, will be featured on the panel.

Go visit the installation in person if you can, and check out and learn more about our featured projects below.

Using hand-made animation, music, 360-degree capture technology and “webGL sorcery,” WAY TO GO is an invitation to walk, run, fly, crouch in the grass and discover what’s hidden just out of sight.

THE UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER is a documentary/fiction hybrid that takes participants on a journey through a virtual reality filled with the fragmented memories of a First World War photographer.

CARDBOARD CRASH asks who, in a world of AI and self-driving cars, should get to determine the algorithms that handle emergency situations.

In MINOTAUR, a hero undertakes an archetypal journey through seven stages: birth, childhood, mission, labyrinth, monster, battle, and death/rebirth. (This project is based off Munro Ferguson’s eponymous short film.)

CUT-OFF is an immersive 360° VR documentary experience that places the viewer in the middle of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s historic visit to Shoal Lake 40, a First Nation in Canada without access to clean water.

SEANCES presents a new way of experiencing film narrative, framed through the lens of loss. In a technical feat of data-drive cinematic storytelling, films are dynamically assembled in never-to-be repeated configurations.