Sundance Launches Residency for Virtual Reality Filmmakers

The Sundance Institute has partnered with virtual reality company Jaunt Studios to create the Sundance Institute New Frontier, a new residency program which will focus on telling cinematic, narrative stories in a virtual reality setting.

READ MORE: 6 Ways Virtual Reality Will Change Filmmaking

Artists will receive an unspecified grant to make their virtual reality short films as well as post-production support and access to the industry’s most advanced tools, including Jaunt’s award winning professional-grade cinematic VR camera, Jaunt ONE, as well as its suite of production pipeline tools.

Lynette Wallworth, an Australian artist and documentary filmmaker known for producing immersive artworks, is the first and only candidate selected so far.  Three additional artists will be selected to participate in the coming months. Wallworth’s project, “Collisions,” tells the story of an Aboriginal elder who practiced the same ways of life as the thousands of generations before him, only have everything disrupted by crossing paths with Western ways.

“Virtual reality and other multimedia forms are accelerating the evolution of storytelling, and we are excited to collaborate with Jaunt Studios to provide independent artists the space and resources to experiment with these technologies. We hope their unique voices, diverse perspectives and creativity will help define the potential of this new medium,” said Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute.

READ MORE: Sundance Selects Native American Filmmakers For Full Circle Fellowship