Over the course of the last week, filmmakers, writers, and fans gathered in Midtown Manhattan for the city’s 8th Annual NYC Independent Film Festival (NYCIndieFF). The festival hosted screenings of over 250 films, spanning the range of documentaries and comedies to short films and animations. Dispersed throughout the film screenings were networking events, panels and seminars that festival-goers could attend to learn about topics such as crowdfunding and music licensing.
New to the festival this year was a Virtual Reality Experience, presented by Pretend Labs, ReVRie Immersive Works and Lucky Uncle Productions, which gave audience members the unique experience of being immersed in several 360 films using the Samsung Gear VR, and an additional film on the HTC Vive. In addition to these offerings, the festival featured a Mixed Reality recording station, which recorded users playing Google Tiltbrush on the HTS Vice, all while being superimposed into their VR environment. To add to the unique immersive experiences, the team also offered Microsoft HoloLens demos, as well as unique VR Cardboard viewers being distributed to festival attendees. This unique experience combined the art of film with the new and cutting-edge art of virtual reality.
The festival also featured NYCIndieFF Voices Exhibit Project, which welcomed voices from the NYC community and beyond to submit videos expressing their thoughts on their place in their homes, their country, and their world. Each video was then curated into an installation piece, created by NYCIndieFF Executive Director Dennis Cieri.
Held primarily in the cozy rooms of Producers’ Club Theaters and Bar, NYCIndieFF created an intimate and thought-provoking environment for artists, writers, filmmakers, actors, and fans. The crowds at each screening were composed not only of fellow indie filmmakers, but also included friends and family of the artist behind the showing, demonstrating the uniquely nurturing environment of NYCIndieFF.
