The ninth annual FilmGate Interactive Media Festival is currently taking place around South Florida through December 5. According to their press release the festival, “is designed to highlight and showcase how emerging tech empowers new ways of artistic and media expression.” They go on to say, “audiences will have access to over 30 interactive experiences, 15 labs and talks, interactive exhibits, 4 dome experiences, a financing market, b2b meetings, music, and live events, accessible to all ages.”
Among the locations where FilmGate Interactive Media Festival takes place include Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, Downtown Media Center, SE Financial Center, O Cinema South Beach, and Fountainbleu Hotel.
The Festival will feature extended reality (XR) programming using headset devices, but also interactive installations and experiences that do not require headsets. All which according to FilmGate’s co-founder/executive director, Diliana Alexander, “will make audiences feel as if they are in the entirely new digital world, or in a word augmented by almost magical layers. We are leaping into a world first imagined by science fiction writers. Everyone from Meta and Microsoft, to independent creators, are exploring what that means. And we are bringing it to Miami for everyone to experience, first hand.”
Many of the events are free. You can check out the full schedule and purchase tickets for ticketed events at filmgate.miami.
Some of the highlights include…
Stiltsville, a Virtual Reality game/doc where participants are a time-traveler photographer who is tasked to travel to the Stiltsville houses in different time periods in an effort to preserve them. The first episode kicks off at the Perez Art Museum, and he second episode takes place in the 70s, where participants are transported in the middle of a party and can play blackjack, change records, dance and take photos, until two visitors disrupt the time flow – the Governor and a hurricane.
As Water Falls, a virtual interactive waterfall that aims to explore different aspects of water and its metaphorical concepts, shedding a light on the relationship with water as a precious element. A large-scale installation taking the form of a cascade, the piece reacts to mobile phone flashlights. Added mirrors, real water and vibrating motors are also included to make for an even more immersive experience.
Poet’s Room from Korea is a VR experience discovering the work and life of poet Yun Dong-ju, through his poems.
