Onedotzero organisers adopt a utopian vision of the future

The festival will take place from 10-14 November at London’s South Bank. Individual 3D cinema pods are currently under development for use at the event, which will also feature debates about the ethics of living with intelligent robots and the converging relationship of gaming and cinema.

Inspired by a nostalgic sense that the future used to be thought of as a ’bright and exciting place’, Onedotzero founder and creative director Shane Walter says he will challenge cynical perceptions, partly by looking at how we can get the most out of future technologies.

Festival event Robotica ’is a comment on where we’re heading’, says Walter. A look at the ethics and social effects of robots through film, the programme will also encourage members of the public to make their own robots, which will have ’the ability to emote’, says Walter. Tinker London will run the workshop.

The industry-wide trend of the rise of code in moving image will be examined in Code Warriors, says Walter. The programme will look at using computer code as raw material to create self-perpetuating moving image. There will be ’unexpected results’, according to Walter, who says, ’With generative software you can never predict what will happen next. It is the machine or the code making the directional decisions.’

Audio-visual collaboration will form a large part of the programme and a DJ Yoda performance at London’s Imax has already been confirmed, as well as a 20-year Ninja Records retrospective, which will see the label’s artists team up with visual experts and VJs.

DJ and VJ Stuart Warren Hill of Hexstatic will be performing at the Dark Fibre night, a regular BFI event which falls under the Onedotzero curtain. Working with holographic projection company Musion, ’peppers ghost’ technology will be used to generate holograms in a collaborative project Walter believes is a manifestation of his utopian theme.

More conventional screen formats will be manipulated by digital artist Quayola, who will conceive classical art and architectural masterpieces through computer-generated particle systems. ’It will play with your perceptions of space,’ says Walter, who adds, ’His approach has elements of computer game design and coding.’

Bafta will be present to explore the relationship between gaming and cinema. Walter says Onedotzero initially tried to explore this theme in its Lens Flair event some years ago, but met resistance at the time.

The Bafta talk will recognise that games ’offer a sophisticated cinematic experience’, says Walter, who explains that in an age where games and films inspire each other, studios such as Spov, which makes gaming cinematics, are recognised as being filmmakers.

A series of interactive installations have been commissioned, including one by Hellicar and Lewis which pits the visitor as the leading performer in an interactive hall of mirrors where body images fragment.

Digital visions of heaven and hell have been commissioned from media artist Max Hattler, and the cinema pods – which Walter describes as ’[Stanley] Kubrick-like’ – are being developed with a 2001: A Space Odyssey aesthetic to individualise 3D cinema. Digital pod designer Ovei is working with the ex-McLaren F1 design team to realise the experience, says Walter.

Financial constraints, however, mean that a bespoke identity will not be commissioned this year. Last year’s festival saw a continually changing Wieden & Kennedy-designed Onedotzero identity composed of real-time, live-feed data drawn from social media channels.

Onedotzero 2010 programme
Citystates 10 will explore our relationship with cities through positive filmic responses to urban environments of the future, on 10, 12 and 13 November

Bafta’s Games and Film – The New ’Indie’? discussion – takes place on 14 November

Ladymation will showcase female animators on 11, 13 and 14 November, and include the work of George Wu

Code Warriors will investigate the use of computer code as raw material to create self-perpetuating moving image work, and runs from 11-14 November

Robotica takes place on 10 and 12-14 November, and looks at the ethical implications of a future shared with robots through films by Carl Eric Rinsch and Fede Alvarez

New British Talent 10 will showcase emerging talent in animation and filmmaking on 10, 13 and 14 November