Sundance: Make New Frontier Part of Your Park City Plans

It's hard to believe that Hollywood's annual trek to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival is just more than a month away. But as you struggle to find that last non-stop flight ticket and comb Airbnb for the room closest to Main Street, make sure to pencil in some time to stop into the New Frontier installations.

Never checked out New Frontier? If Sundance is the Disneyland for film buffs, then the New Frontier section is Tomorrowland. Artists use 3-D, virtual reality and multiple narratives to transport audiences with the next generation of storytelling.

This year's projects include a 3-D and 360-degree documentary for the Oculus Rift headset called Zero Point, a simulation experience of being a bird from a first-person perspective via a full-body virtual reality setup entitled Birdly, and a somber look at an intense tragedy unfolding in a piece entitled Project Syria that combines virtual reality technologies with audio and video captured during a real event.

The film portion of New Frontier offers up some intriguing experimental films, including "Station to Station," which is composed of 60 individual one-minute films featuring different artists, musicians, places and perspectives.

New Frontier installations will be housed on the top two floors of the Claim Jumper at 573 Main Street in Park City. Added bonus: Admission to all New Frontier installations is free.

Can't make it to Park City in January? I'm told that there may be ways for fans to access the future of film online. The Sundance fest has been increasingly accessible on the web, so stay tuned to find out which aspects of the New Frontier section might be made available on the Internet.

The festival takes place from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, 2015.

Birdly - photo courtesy of The Sundance Institute

Zero Point, documentary using Oculus Rift - photo courtesy of The Sundance Institute