flicks
RiverRun Virtual Theater sews up free film screening
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eginning Thursday, the RiverRun International Film Festival and HanesBrands will present the premiere screening of the documentary short Mark Burger Crop to Campus, which will be available to view at no Contributor cost for two weeks at riverrunfilm.com/ virtual-theater/. The film details the step-by-step of HanesBrands’s process in creating its Comfort Wash apparel line, from a cotton farm in North Carolina to a yarn-spinning facility in Tennessee, and finally its stateof-the-art cut, sew, and dry facilities in El Salvador – as experienced by three 2019 seniors from the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University: Mamie Tigg (from Austin, Texas), Katy Powers (from Charlotte), and Sydney Parker (from Lexington).
Katy Powers takes a picture of Sydney Parker at Grant Farms “The idea was to let the students immerse themselves in the experience and let them share their perspectives via social media,” explained Michael Johnson, Hanes Activewear’s director of marketing. “But we quickly realized, from their excitement and energy, that documenting the experience in a larger way could be a great story in itself.”
Award-winning documentary filmmaker and RiverRun veteran Rod Murphy, a native of Asheville, was tapped to direct Crop to Campus. “This was a great project primarily because of the openness of everyone involved, and no topics were off the table,” he said. “As seniors, the students came into the project at a crossroads where they are passionate
about textiles and apparel, but deeply concerned about fashion’s impact on the future of the planet.” The students, all of whom have since graduated NCSU, saw first-hand both the process by which the apparel line is created, but also the efforts by HanesBrands to incorporate water conservation, limited pesticide usage, science, and other socio-political factors in its methods of production. “A lot of people when they think of sustainability, they think it’s an item that’s been recycled or reused,” observed Parker. “I now know that there is an ethical and human aspect to it.” “We are really excited that RiverRun will be the first to show this film,” said Johnson. “RiverRun is a true gem and widely admired. Sustainability means different things to different people, and we all still have a lot to learn. RiverRun is a great venue to help spark thought and conversation.” The RiverRun International Film Festival’s official website is www.riverrunfilm. com/. The official HanesBrands website is www.hanes.com/. !
‘Heavy METL’:UNCSA’s immersive storytelling residency yields first work The Media and Emerging Technology Lab (METAL) at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has concluded its inaugural Immersive Storytelling Residency with the completion of BonsAI, an immersive narrative experience inspired by the COVID-19 global pandemic. The sixth-month residency is the first of its kind in the nation, combining the skills and talents of a technical artist, a software engineer, and a screenwriter to create a fully-realized virtual reality experience. METL, established in 2017 at the UNCSA School of Filmmaking, is dedicated to defining, refining, and shaping the evolution of how immersive story content is created, consumed, and told. The storytelling residency was conceived by Ryan Schmaltz, who has been the director of METL at UNCSA since its inception. “As one of the few immersive labs in the county to be housed in a professional arts conservatory, METL is uniquely situated to train and serve as a resource for the next generation of creative innovators. The residency brings together people with complimentary skill sets, gives them room, to develop an idea using METL’s technology and resources, and provides guidance and mentorship by key industry experts.” WWW.YESWEEKLY.COM
The creative participants of the program included software engineer Alex Moro, screenwriter/producer Trent Spivey (who graduated the School of Filmmaking in 2018), and technical artist Fernando Goyret. BonsAI is a futuristic parable in which the virtual-reality (VR) participant “plays” the assistant to an esteemed scientist during the rise of a novel plant virus. The participant must formulate a solution to the crisis while remaining one step ahead of a corrupt conglomerate bent on sabotaging the project. That the narrative mirrors, to some extent, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, was not coincidental, according to Spivey. “We were tasked with thinking about how we could use this immersive technology and platform to cultivate empathy and awareness, while still creating an entertaining and meaningful experience – all within (approximately) an eightto-12-minute time-frame,” he said. “We knew we wanted to draw on what people are experiencing right now, but we also wanted to inspire.” UNCSA will submit BonsAI to VR film festivals as well as such popular festivals as Sundance, Tribeca, and South by Southwest (SXSW) that have categories devoted
to immersive media. “Virtual reality affects your mind in a different way,” Spivey observed. “You are not just watching something on a screen. You are in the scene. There’s a power in being immersed, in what it can do for the human spirit.”
The official UNCSA website is www. uncsa.edu/. ! See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.
Arts through it All. In our most trying times, art and artists are here. As the world confronts chaos and despair, historic levels of uncertainty and unsure footing, art and artists are here. They fuel learning and support the economy. They matter and make a difference. They are necessary, especially now. Events and live art experiences have temporarily been taken away, but the arts are here through it all.
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OCTOBER 7-13, 2020
YES! WEEKLY
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