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FoST FESTIVAL

Overview

The Future of StoryTelling (FoST) Festival is the world’s leading immersive storytelling event. Featuring the best in interactive, cutting-edge storytelling experiences from around the world, FoST Festival includes over 100+ groundbreaking technology exhibits, insightful panels and conversations with industry leaders, jaw-dropping evening performances, and more.

2017 Highlights

2017 Lineup

FoST Festival’s exhibition space featured over 100 examples of the world’s best immersive storytelling experiences. Attendees were able to transform their bodies into AR paintbrushes, explore the galaxies with haptic VR, and go on a choose-your-own adventure with an interactive audio platform—and much, much more!

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The Cloud Machine

Interactive Installation

US PREMIER
The Cloud Machine is a large-scale installation containing an audience-generated cloud that speaks and behaves in particular ways, depending on the spectators’ mental state.

RIOT 2.0

Interactive Installation

WORLD PREMIER
RIOT 2.0 is a live-action film with 3D sound that uses facial recognition and AI technology to change the film’s narrative based on participant’s emotional responses.

Spoons

Virtual Reality

US PREMIER
SPOONS is an interactive experience in virtual reality set in the surrealistic pop world of illustrator Nicolas Barrome.

Sonaria

Virtual Reality

WORLD PREMIER
Sonaria is a VR film that follows two ever-changing creatures as they flow from one life-form to another in a vivid journey of sound and light.

Life of Us

Virtual Reality

Breathe fire, swim underwater, survive the Ice Age, and soar over volcanos as you evolve through different creatures and a billion years of evolution in this action packed, multiperson VR adventure.

Alice, The Virtual Reality Play

Virtual Reality

US PREMIER
Alice, The Virtual Reality Play is a complete VR experience that immerses viewers into a virtual scene and allows them to interact physically in real time with characters and objects.

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The FoST Festival featured panels and talks with some of the smartest and most insightful people from the worlds of entertainment, marketing, media, technology, and more.

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A Conversation with Steven Soderbergh

Friday

Fri. 10/6, 11:00am–12:00pm
Join Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh in conversation about his career and Mosaic, a new interactive project he is developing for HBO.

NPR Music’s Bob Boilen presents an evening with musician John Paul White

Friday

Fri. 10/6, 6:30pm–8:00pm
Watch and listen as All Songs Considered host and Tiny Desk Concert creator Bob Boilen chats with John Paul White about songs that changed their lives.

USA Network presents: Mr. Robot Season 3 Premiere Screening and Discussion with Creator

Saturday

Sat. 10/7, 3:30pm–5:00pm
Join us for a special advance screening of the Season 3 premiere episode of Mr. Robot, followed by a conversation and Q&A with show creator Sam Esmail.

Future of VR

Friday

Fri. 10/6, 2:00pm–3:00pm
Hear from creators, funders, and studios in the VR field to find out what the next few years have in store for this emerging medium.

Creative Frontiers in AI

Saturday

Sat. 10/7, 11:00am–12:00pm
Come meet some of the creators, storytellers, musicians, and engineers, who are working alongside their AI counterparts to see how man and machine can create together.

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From top comedians to world-class musicians, dancers, spoken-word artists, circus performers, and more, FoST Festival featured an array of jaw-dropping entertainment.

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Chris Gethard

ACTOR & COMEDIAN

COMEDY NIGHT
Sat. 10/7, 6:30–8:00pm
Chris Gethard is the host and star of Funny or Die's The Chris Gethard Show on TruTV and the host of the popular Earwolf podcast Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People.

Aparna Nancherla

ACTRESS & COMEDIAN

COMEDY NIGHT
Sat. 10/7, 6:30–8:00pm
Aparna Nancherla is a nationally and internationally touring comedian who can be seen on the current seasons of Netflix's Master of None and Love, as well as on HBO's Crashing.

Adam Wade

ACTOR & COMEDIAN

COMEDY NIGHT
Sat. 10/7, 6:30–8:00pm
Adam Wade is an inimitable fixture in both the New York City storytelling and comedy scenes and the winner of 20 StorySLAMs at The Moth.

Marina Franklin

COMEDIAN

COMEDY NIGHT
Sat. 10/7, 6:30–8:00pm
New York–based Marina Franklin has emerged as one of the hottest comedians on the scene today, with notable appearances on Crashing, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan, and Chappell's Show, among others.

Hideaway Circus

JOSH AVINER AND LYNDSAY MAGID

Sun. 10/8, 4:00pm–5:00pm
See five of the best juggling, contortion, acrobatic, and dance acts and learn about future of the world’s oldest art form.

Broken Bone Bathtub

SIOBHAN O’LOUGHLIN

Broken Bone Bathtub is an immersive theater project that takes place entirely in a bathtub, exploring themes of trauma, suffering, human generosity, vulnerability, and connection.

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From participating in a LARP, going on a scavenger hunt, or putting their olfactory powers to the test on a “smellwalk,” attendees immersed themselves in the many activities taking place across the FoST Festival grounds.

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Group Date

Group Date is a larp about two people (portrayed by 4-10 players) going on their first dates after being matched by computer algorithm.

OurSpace

App

US PREMIER
OurSpace is a participatory performance guided by an artificial chatbot, zooming in on the virtual and the physical space between people and their online and offline identities.

The Mp3 Experiment

Audio Adventure

The Mp3 Experiment is a participatory audio adventure where attendees download an audio file and listen to synchronized secret instructions via headphones. Click Here for Details on Participation

Ghost Court

LARP

Ghost Court is a ridiculous party game for 6 or more players about ghosts and the people who sue them.

Still Life

LARP

Still Life is a short larp about relationships and their inherent instability due to forces beyond our control.

FoST Scavenger Hunt Quest

Scavenger Hunt

WORLD PREMIER
Embark on a short scavenger hunt through the FoST Festival campus, searching for fun clues that reveal interesting details about items and locations throughout the venue.

The Traveling Poetry Emporium

Come get an original poems-to-order, composed on the spot and typed on an antique typewriter.

Smellwalk: Staten Island

Smellmapping

WORLD PREMIER
Smellwalk: Staten Island is part of a long-term NYC Smellmapping project during which you divert your normal sensory order to collect information through your nose.

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Location

One of New York City’s hidden gems, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden began its life in the mid-nineteenth century as a home for retired sailors. Today, the sprawling 83-acre campus is a thriving regional arts center that includes landmark buildings, lush gardens, and wide-open spaces. It’s a place where history and the arts come alive in one of the city’s most unique architectural complexes and historic landscapes.

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