In what organizers are billing as a “Groundbreaking Film Festival Event,” the First Annual “Dome Fest West” will kick-off at the Orange Coast College Planetarium in Costa Mesa, CA – “the City of the Arts” – on Friday, October 8 and continue until the evening of Sunday, October 10th. Dome Fest West is 360-degree film festival and conference that will bring together the filmmaking community, Hollywood filmmakers and up-and-coming immersive content creators.
The festival will screen 32 films chosen as the best productions of 2020-21, including films nominated for the first “Best of Earth” Award. The festival also features, in partnership with IMERSA, new technology presentations, industry panels, interactive workshops and parties. Event organizers expect up to 1500 immersive filmmakers from around the globe to attend in-person and virtual festival, which has been designed to take fulldome content “to the next level.”
Ryan Moore, Executive Director and Founder of Dome Fest West, said, “It’s clear to those of us working within this medium that fulldome content isn’t just for planetariums or science-centers anymore. As more digital dome venues come online in the near future, moviegoers increasingly be able to experience Hollywood-caliber immersive content – without wearing bulky VR headsets. Cutting-edge technology innovations have enabled filmmakers to bring compelling new immersive stories and experiences that are fundamentally different than film or television.”
The goals behind the evolution of DFW are: to introduce new audiences to the powerful, immersive fulldome medium; support creators and technology across all facets of the dome space; bring together the Hollywood creative community, taste-makers and tech-experts working within the fulldome industry to educate, entertain and inspire one another; and highlight the most creative and marketable fulldome content currently being produced around the world.
Interesting Side Note
Dome Fest West is one of four international fulldome festivals which has joined in an unprecedented film festival collaboration. All four festivals, which will run concurrently during the October 8-10, 2021, weekend, will include the Full Dome Festival, Jena, Germany; Full Dome UK in Plymouth, UK; and the Dome Under Festival in Melborne, Australia. DFW Executive Director Ryan Moore, and co-founders Ed Lantz and Kate McCallum, worked with an international team to produce #BestOfEarth as a response to the COVID crisis last year, which compromised many of the festivals.
A team of jurors delegated by participating festivals will bestow #BestOfEarth Awards across five categoris including Best Feature Film, Best Sciene and Education Film, Best Art and Experimental, Best Short and a Juror’s Choice Award to honor creativity and innovation in fulldome media projects. Dome Fest West is offering tickets to home viewers who wish to screen a 360-degree live stream of the #BestOfEarth nominees and of the awards show. The #BestOfEarth Awards event will be streamed live on October 9 from the Zeiss-Grossplanetarium in Berlin, Germany.
To date, Dome Fest West sponsors include Experience 360, Vortex Immersion Media, IMERSA, c3: Center for Conscious Creativity and Festoon.
DOME FEST WEST’S FILM PRESENTATIONS WILL INCLUDE:
“Atlas of a Changing Earth”
“Atlas of a Changing Earth,” directed by Tom Lucas, conveys the story of how a revolution in one of the most basic of all human enterprises – the making of maps – is shedding new light on our planet’s evolution in the wake of rising global temperatures. It builds on the success of two award-winning Earth science films distributed by Spitz and Evans & Sutherland: “Dynamic Earth: Exploring Earth’s Climate Engine” (2012) and “Birth of Planet Earth” (2019).
Using stunning, latest-generation imagery from space, “Atlas of a Changing Earth” takes viewers into the dynamic processes causing coastal glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica to melt and explores how rising seas could threaten coastlines the world over. These striking new images are produced by the confluence of satellites and supercomputers, revealing Earth in a degree of precise detail scarcely imagined a generation ago.
For more information on this title, please visit: https://www.spitzcreativemedia.com/shows/atlas-of-a-changing-earth/
“Beautifica”
“Beautifica,” directed by Michael Saul, is a celebration of life. This immersive visual music fulldome experience comes from the creators of the award-winning fulldome show “Mesmerica.” Mixed in 7.0 surround sound, this magical synergy of uplifting music and stunning visuals has been designed to transport the audience into an altered sense of time and space.
The inspiring music featured within “Beautifica,” created and performed by musician James Hood, accompanies the visuals under the direction of Michael Saul, with animations and art created by artists from around the world. The film invokes and inspires a deep sense of awe and gratitude. For more, see: http://www.michaelsaul.com/
“Living Worlds”
“Living Worlds,” directed by Ryan Wyatt, explores how life and our planet have evolved together, and how that informs our search for life elsewhere‚ throughout our solar system and beyond. The film helps unlock the secrets of spectroscopy, while giving viewers a chance to visit ancient Earth, and dive underneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, all in search of the fingerprints of life.
“Living Worlds” is a new show from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and presents how technologies leave their mark on the cosmos. Viewers are left to imagine how Earth might join the ranks of the civilizations that endure. For more background information, please see: https://calacademy.org/press/releases/new-original-planetarium-show-living-worlds-opens-november-5-at-the-california
About DOME FEST WEST FOUNDERS
Ryan Moore
Dome Fest West Executive Director/Founder Ryan Moore is also the founder of Experience 360°, a Burbank-based Virtual Experience Design Studio that has been creating branded and narrative immersive content since 2015. Moore’s diverse career within the film production arena includes experimental branded content (for clients Disney, Toyota and GoPro;) TV commercials (for clients Pepsi and Jack In The Box;) music festival coverage (for client Fuse Media;) and Reality TV projects (including the series “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.”
Ed Lantz
DFW Co-Founder Ed Lantz is an immersive media entrepreneur, engineer, producer and experience designer. Lantz left aerospace engineering in 1990 to transform traditional planetariums into immersive visualization environments, designing over a dozen dome theaters worldwide including Egypt’s Library of Alexandria Planetarium, Domodigital at Papalote Museo del Niño in Mexico City, and the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK. He sees modern digital domes as “digital temples of transformation” for their ability to combine art and science to create compelling immersive journeys, performances and experiences with positive impact. His company Vortex Immersion Media develops immersive media venues and experiences for clients and audiences worldwide.
Kate McCallum
DFW Co-Founder Kate McCallum is an award-winning multi-media producer/writer, with 20 years background at NBCUniversal and Paramount Studios. She is also the founder of c3: Center for Conscious Creativity, a 501c3 whose mission is to “Create a better future through the power of arts, media and storytelling,” and Bridge Arts Media, a media development and production company. McCallum produces fulldome and immersive content, served six years on the Producers Guild of America New Media Council, is a member of the TV Academy, and recently co-authored Handbook of Research on the Global Impacts and Roles of Immersive Media.
About IMERSA
IMERSA fosters the growing interest in digital fulldome cinema, immersive entertainment, performance art and virtual experiences through its Summits and activities. Please see: https://www.imersa.org/
About DOME FEST WEST
Launched in Fall 2021, Dome Fest West is an immersive Dome film festival and conference designed to introduce the global immersive Dome filmmaking community to Hollywood’s new, up-and-coming content creators.
Presenting “The World’s Best Dome Media that Exists Today,” Dome Fest West will, in partnership with IMERSA, be comprised of Dome film screenings, new technology presentations, industry panels, interactive workshops and exclusive parties. Event organizers expect up to 1500 immersive filmmakers from around the globe to attend the festival, which has been designed to take immersive Dome content “to the next level.”
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