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The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
For 30 years, the Sundance Film Festival has been the place where little indies make big names for themselves. Usually those indies are quirky comedies or heartfelt dramas, with only the occasional sci-fi or genre picture. This year, that's changed. When the festival starts later this week, its slate includes documentaries about internet addiction, Aaron Swartz, even Facebook darling George Takei. There's a movie where Aubrey Plaza is a girlfriend-turned-zombie, and a film that explores "the connective tissue between love and science." There's even an Iranian vampire Western. In short, it's going to be good for anyone interested in tech, genre films, and internet history alike.
And some of the coolest things coming to Sundance this year aren't even films. Virtual-reality company Oculus will be on hand, showing off their VR Cinema app. It's a technology that could change not just the kind of films that win at festivals, but how they are shown. "There's a lot of anxiety around that conversation," said Sundance senior programmer Shari Frilot. "But I always think that what will happen will be what always happens—nothing gets supplanted, it just becomes more capacious. The movies didn't go away, we just now also have Apple TV and Netflix. It's just going to make it broader—it really then becomes how do we connect with the work, and that's really the chapter we haven't seen yet."
Click through above for more of the coolest and newest movies and technologies coming to Sundance this year.
