Welcome to Alternate Realities, Sheffield Doc/Fest’s programme of virtual reality experiences, interactive documentaries and inspiring talks and sessions. This year we invite Festival-goers and the public to bravely step into new worlds, where interaction and immersion make you a part of the story.
For 2017, we bring you a magical, factual feast of experiences at our hub, the Millennium Gallery. And we hit the streets of sheffield with two new pop-up venues, our immersive Virtual Reality Portal on Tudor Square and the Virtual Reality Campfire at Upper Chapel where you can find thought provoking stories from around the world.
With more virtual reality than ever before in the programme, we invite you to ascend into the tree canopy of the Amazon rainforest. Share an in-timate moment with a stranger. Play with an interactive model of a rebuilt city. Or See the world through the eyes of a baby.
With the latest tech in our interactive exhibition, we encourage you to augment your reality, bear witness to documentaries on the web and swipe through dramatic stories on tablets. Find a hidden love story in secret documents. Slip down the rope of lost memories. Or Lead a clandestine wartime mission to decide the fate of the world and uncover secrets from WWII.
Bringing together Film and Alternate Realities more closely than before we have created story specific journeys that let you immerse yourself in the worlds you have seen on the big screen or follow strands like Doc/Love and Doc/Think across both programmes.
Experience documentaries in new and visceral ways, from coral conservation to the effects of M.E. And make sure you join us in the gallery space for regular chances to meet the makers of the artworks – see the website for details.
In this year’s Alternate Realities Summit, we have created a day of illuminating and vital conversations, talks and demonstrations. The nature of the human identity and connection is explored with storytellers, technologists and artists revealing how their documentary work can help us better understand who we are and encourage social innovation.
The Summit Morning will focus on digital experiences that help us learn about our own identity and values. The Summit Afternoon explores how virtual reality and immersive experiences give us a better understanding of the lives of others.
Beyond the Summit and the Exhibition, look out for other Alternate Realities sessions and events throughout the city. In particular the DOOM ROOM, a psychedelic mediation on life and death that is not to be missed and not for the faint hearted.
Welcome to Alternate Realities 2017, a selection of interactive and immersive stories that you can only see during these wonderful six days in Sheffield.
Sheffield Doc/Fest and the British Council are delighted to announce that a selection of work from Alternate Realities will tour to Latin America Doc/Fest 2017.
