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Sundance Film Festival to be the stage for multiple VR experiences

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The independent film festival, held annually in Utah, has been picked by Samsung to unveil three new short films, created specifically for its Gear VR. Combating the limited amount of content for the virtual reality platform, Samsung is attempting to showcase its capabilities to filmmakers.

The 7min long “The World Première of Herders” presents an insight into the life of Mongolian nomadic tribes. Expect to witness stunning landscape veiws of the boundless Asian steppes as well as close encounters with a herd of yaks.

No other than Reese Witherspoon is the star of the second short, dubbed “Wild – The Experience”. In another visual feast, we join Witherspoon’s character (Cheryl Strayed) on a self-exploratory journey up the Pacific Crest Trail.

The third one offers viewers the opportunity to spend time (or an “intimate moment”, in Samsung’s wording) in the studio with musician Patrick Watson.

The same venue was also chosen to present viewers an actual human flight simulator, aptly named Birdly, for an Icarus-like experience minus the death. It’s developed by the Zurich University of the Arts and comes in its second version.

This time, the simulator utilizes the Oculus Rift as a medium for feeding bird’s-eye view imagery to your brain, while you’re lying face-down on a fancy rig with wings and the lot. Fortunate reviewers tested the machine and praised it for the immersive personalized experience it delivers.

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