New Frontier on Main
Right after the opening press conference, the crowd crossed the street to the New Frontier on Main venue for the opening reception. Over the past several years, this venue became the place to see demos of digital production tools, panel discussions on technical topics, various filmmaking workshops, and the online shorts festival.
Last year, the venue got classy lighting and décor. This year it has changed even more dramatically, with a DJ, a Krups coffee bar and video art installations mixed among the technology demos, panels and workshops. It also has a mission: Sundance describes it as a place that “celebrates the convergence of film and art as an emerging hotbed for new ideas and experimentation.” At the reception, Redford talked about artists who were using new technology and the moving image to explore new concepts of narrative structure.
So it‘s interesting to see the selection of avant garde films and installations juxtaposed with the technology demos and classes by HP, Adobe, Sony, Avid and others. It contextualizes the technology, and illustrates just how inseparable filmmakers and technology really are. That‘s always been true of course but now digital technology provides such a variable toolbox that it begs experimentation–it’s a theme that is vividly illustrated throughout the many components of the festival.
For a full list of the New Frontier film programming click here.
