Boulder International Film Festival Showcases the Latest Virtual Reality Films and Augmented Reality Art at Free XR Experience Featuring Special Guests from Disney Animation

The 16th Annual Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) is pleased to announce The BIFF XR Experience (www.biff1.com/xr), celebrating the evolution of storytelling with the very best in virtual reality films, augmented reality art installations, and the Boulder XR Science Fair featuring XR Projects from over a dozen local Boulder companies and labs. Thanks to our many generous sponsors, this BIFF event is open and free to the public and takes place at Galvanize Boulder March 5 – 7, and the BIFF TalkBack Cafe on March 8.

The XR Experience offers the local Boulder and surrounding community a chance to experience cutting-edge VR films from around the world, industry meetups, interactive workshops and a showcase of local AR/VR innovation in the Boulder XR Science Fair.

“The future of storytelling will be an amazingly new and exciting experience that we can’t even imagine today,” said Kevin Smith, executive producer for BIFF. “The XR Experience provides a glimpse into this groundbreaking new medium while providing a great community event to mix, learn and experience.”

The BIFF XR Experience celebrates the melding of virtual reality and augmented reality into mixed reality, or XR. The XR Pavilion includes curated VR films from around the world, an opening kick-off party, industry meetups, interactive workshops, and the Boulder XR Science Fair, featuring the amazing VR and AR innovations from local university labs, tech teams and professionals.

The VR line-up features the films “Cycles” and “Myth: A Frozen Tale,” VR films from Disney Animation. Special guests include Jeff Gipson (Director and CU grad) and Jose Luis Gomez Diaz (Lead Software Engineer, VR/AR, Disney Animation) who will be presenting Saturday’s keynote, “The Collaboration Between Art and Technology: Making Disney Animation’s ‘Cycles’ and ‘Myth: A Frozen Tale.'”

XR Experience Schedule

Thurs., March 5 (5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.)
Location: Galvanize Boulder, 1023 Walnut

• 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. – XR Experience Kickoff – Welcome Disney to Boulder! (free to attend)
  Kick-off a great VR/AR/XR weekend with FREE Spiked Snowmelt Craft Hard Seltzer and beer from Upslope, as well as a tasty taco bar from Mojo Taqueria. Welcome Disney VR artists to Boulder and experience the power of virtual reality films in the VR Theater!

Fri., March 6 (12 p.m. – 8 p.m.)
Location: Galvanize Boulder, 1023 Walnut Street

• 12 p.m. – VR Theater and AR Cafe
  Films in the VR Theater include: “Cycles,” “Myth: A Frozen Tale,” “Ghost Fleet,” “2nd Step,” “Loxa” and “12 Seconds of Gunfire.” The VR theater also includes two Reality Garage Experiences
  – “Rock Climbing in Boulder Canyon” and “Denver Helicopter.” The AR Café features world class Augmented Realty artworks from Heavy AR and other Boulder artists.

Sat., March 7, (10 a.m. – 8 p.m.)
Location: Galvanize Boulder, 1023 Walnut Street

• 10 a.m. – VR Theater and AR Café Open
• 10:30 a.m. – Augmented Reality Workshop with Pat Mallek, Mighty Fudge Studios
• Noon -The Boulder XR Science Fair
  Check out the brilliance of local AR/VR from local university labs, tech teams and professionals.
• 12:30 p.m. – VLogging with Ryan Van Duzer
  Learn to vlog (video blog) with the inspirational Ryan Van Duzer, whose YouTube channel has garnered over one million hits.
• 2 p.m. – 360 Photography Workshop with Dave Blessing
  Check out the mind-blowing world of 360 photography with Boulder High teacher Dave Blessing, who will present a photo safari, introduce a 360 camera and explain this ground-breaking technology.
• 3 p.m. – Keynote Presentation, The Collaboration Between Art and Technology: Making Disney Animation’s “Cycles” and “Myth: A Frozen Tale” with Disney’s Jeff Gipson and Jose Luis Gomez Diaz
  Gipson (Director) and Gomez Diaz (Lead Software Engineer, VR/AR at Disney Animation) will discuss design challenges and new techniques to effectively tell a story in the VR medium, including VR storyboarding and unique use of light and color saturation. Gipson and Gomez’s credits include Disney’s Zootopia, Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Frozen 2.

• 4:30 p.m. – Science Fair resumes
• 8:00 p.m. – XR Theater and Science Fair Closes

Sun., March 8, (3 p.m. – 5 p.m.)

Location: BIFF TalkBack Café in the Tent at 14th and Pearl

• 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. – VR Theater

About XR Experience

Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) celebrates the evolution of storytelling with XR Experience, a free event showcasing the latest in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). As cinema celebrates 100 years, how people view and engage stories continues to evolve at an unprecedented speed. In support of an evolving medium, BIFF’s XR Experience provides film lovers and the local tech community the best in curated VR films, industry meet-ups, and interactive demonstrations and panels. BIFF is committed to showcasing the latest in AR and VR applications that transform the way people experience and interact with visual content.

The BIFF XR Pavilion is generously supported by the CU College of Media, Communication and Information, and CU’s Center for Documentary and Ethnographic Media. Other sponsors include Reality Garage, the Colorado Office of Film, Television & Media, Gary Sharp Innovations, Galvanize, Boulder Community Media, Mighty Fudge Studios, Mojo Taqueria, Upslope Brewing, and Amante Coffee.

About Boulder International Film Festival

Named one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals” in the world by MovieMaker Magazine, the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) brings films and filmmakers from around the world to Boulder for a four-day celebration of the art of cinema. BIFF has developed a reputation as one of the most influential film festivals in the U.S., with an extraordinary number of new-but-unknown feature films, documentaries, and shorts that have gone on from early screenings at BIFF to significant box-office success and multiple Oscar nominations.

The Festival attracts more than 25,000 film enthusiasts, media and industry annually and takes place from March 5 – March 8 2020.  For tickets to the main events and more information go to biff1.com.  BIFF has been proud to host and celebrate some of film’s most talented artists, including award-winning actors Alec Baldwin, James Franco, Martin Sheen, Shirley MacLaine, Alan Arkin, Bruce Dern, Oliver Stone, William H. Macy, Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Maria Bello, and Chevy Chase, along with many other independent filmmakers and special guests including Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Raiders of the Lost Ark), Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Michael and Mark Polish (Northfork), Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Congressman John Lewis (Freedom Riders), and writer John August (Big Fish), among many others.