New Frontier Story Lab

The Sundance Institute’s New Frontier program was created to identify and foster independent artists innovating in the art and form of storytelling at the convergence of film, art, media, live performance, music and technology; to provide a place for audience to view and participate in their work; and to build a community of collaborators across diverse disciplines to push the boundaries of story.

The New Frontier program began in 2007 with the formation of an exhibition and programming at the Sundance Film Festival. The dynamic work being presented at New Frontier inspired the Sundance Institute to deepen its support of storytellers pioneering new mediums and methodologies by establishing the New Frontier Story Lab in 2011.

With an emphasis on story, this Lab supports artists who are developing interactive, immersive, or experimental projects that aim to create rich and resonant experiences for audiences. Therefore, New Frontier Story Lab is open to a wide variety of storytelling disciplines, forms and story designs; as long as the project is working to innovate the art of story.

New Frontier invites six projects to the Sundance Resort for a week-long immersive Story Lab experience with a group of leading artists, designers, filmmakers, storytellers, technologists and innovators in the field. After identifying the unique needs of each selected project, the Sundance Institute sources expert Creative Advisors to provide individualized feedback and creates a custom agenda of activities to support the development of the projects.

Past Creative Advisors include screenwriters Marti Noxon (Fright Night, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Michael Goldenberg (Contact, Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix), Wesley Strick (Cape Fear, Nightmare on Elm Street, Batman Returns, Arachnophobia), Richard LaGravanese (Beautiful Creatures, Fisher King, Freedom Writers, Water For Elephants, Bridges of Madison County) and Nelson George (Good Hair, Life Support, Everyday People), experience designer Lance Weiler (Pandemic, The WorkBook Project), actor/comedian Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Concords), Kara Oehler (Co-Founder of Zeega), leading digital artist Aaron Koblin (Google Data Arts Team), game developer Nick Fortugno (Co-Founder & CCO Playmatics), transmedia innovator Susan Bonds (CEO of 42 Entertainment), and technology and interactive designer Takaaki Okada (Co-founder @ConditionOne).

Six projects will be invited to bring up to two team members each to the Sundance Resort from October 23 - 28, 2013.  Air travel, accommodations, and meals are covered by Sundance Institute.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

New Frontier Story Lab project submissions are accepted by invitation or recommendation only. Application materials will be available beginning April 1, 2013. The deadline for project submissions is June 3, 2013.

Applications are by invitation only. If you’re interested in receiving an application or would like more information, please email newfrontierstorylab@sundance.org.

Previous projects supported in the Lab include:

Rome

Chris Milk’s multiplatform interactive narrative experience inspired by the music produced by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi.

18 Days of Egypt

A crowdsourced non-linear documentary of the revolution in Egypt.

The Silent History

A serialized novel written and designed specifically for the iPhone and iPad.

Question Bridge: Black Males

A transmedia art project that facilitates a dialogue and identity mapping among a critical mass of Black men in America, which premiered at New Frontier during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Kill Shakespeare

An epic adventure into the Bard’s canon that traverses the transmedia landscape of graphic novels, theater, film, and mobile gaming.

Reinvention Stories

An interactive film experience and public radio series about members of the Dayton Ohio community reinventing themselves.