Storyscapes at Tribeca Film Festival. Image: @tribeca.com

The 2016 Tribeca Film Festival has announced the inclusion of an immersive sound project by British playwright Shelley Silas in their innovative Storyscapes competition section.

The project, titled The Turning Forest, was first commissioned by the BBC as a Research and Development project.

Playwright Shelley Silas. Image: Robert Taylor.

Silas, who has been writer-in-residence for the Bush Theatre in London, a world-renowned centre for new writing, is better known for her award-winning radio plays like ‘I am Emma Humphrys’ and ‘The Raj Quartet’ radio adaptation (also referred to as The Jewel in the Crown).

So a film festival is not her usual platform.

But the prestigious Tribeca Festival Hub is known for its eclectic mix,  and in hosting the Storyscape projects (April 14th – 17th in New York City),  they will be showcasing work from many different media, including installations and virtual reality.

This year’s Storyscapes offerings are a reflection of today’s world. We live in a very charged period – from the political landscape to the unprecedented violence – and the Storyscapes installations are compelling and engaging experiences that balance some of the sobering issues facing society, as well as inspiring and wonderful ones.

– Ingrid Kopp, Storyscapes curator.

There are four other projects in this selection alongside The Turning Forest, one of which will be awarded the Storyscapes Award, for its groundbreaking approach in storytelling and technology.

The five pieces are:

1. The Ark (World Premiere) – a virtual reality documentary about the northern white rhinoceros and those fighting to save it.
2. DEEP VR (North American Premiere) – a meditative and psychoactive virtual reality experience controlled by the player’s breathing, in a beautiful underwater seascape.
3. Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness – an audio-diary documenting a man’s discovery of a “world beyond sight” and exploring the interior world of blindness.
4. SENS (World Premiere) – the first graphic novel to be adapted into a virtual reality, through a graphic maze.
5. The Turning Forest (World Premiere) – a real-time computer-graphic virtual reality experience into a magical space of imagination.

So how did The Turning Forest first come into existence?

LMM News spoke to  creator Shelley Silas on the day the project’s inclusion in the eclectic festival was announced.

And what is The Turning Forest about?

The Turning Forest was never made to be broadcast. But Silas hopes that, after its inclusion in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, it will now have a life beyond the Research and Development department of the BBC.