MUTEK is proud to announce its first partnership with Electric South, a non-profit company based in Cape Town, South Africa. The NGO has helped artists across Africa learn the new tools of emerging storytelling, through labs, production, and distribution. For their fifth edition of the New Dimensions Lab (February 26th - March 6th), they bring together diverse African artists to explore immersive technologies such as 360 filmmaking, LiDAR scanning, AR/VR, and expand their opportunities in digital storytelling.

As a result of the ongoing Covid-19 travel restrictions, the Lab will take on a hybrid format giving artists and advisors who are unable to travel an opportunity to participate virtually. This month, Electric South Immersive Media Lab artists will convene for a week-long retreat in Cape Town and virtually, together with a team of advisors and experts in interactive and immersive digital technologies. The lab is uniquely designed to introduce artists to new immersive technologies to expand their avenues of storytelling, supported by one-on-one time with our advisors and opportunities for conversation around the ideas which they bring to the lab. The 5th New Dimensions Lab is proudly presented by Electric South and supported by the Ford Foundation, the National Film and Video Foundation, and the Bertha Foundation.

The Québec participants are presented in collaboration with MUTEK, with the support of Québec's ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie.

Émilie F. Grenier - Thinkwell Studio Montréal

Émilie F. Grenier wants you to forget, for an instant, where you are. Using the real world as her canvas, she weaves narrative threads with traces of augmentation to create magical spaces, instilling her work with a quiet sense of wonder. As Head of Creative at Thinkwell Studio Montréal, Émilie sets the creative vision for the studio and leads her team to create large-scale multisensory experiences, in both built and natural environments. Working over the last 15 years in a range of disciplines and mediums including theatre, film, experimental digital narratives, VR, and AR — she is drawn to the possibilities that technology offers less to wow, but to produce a magical suspension of disbelief. As a mother of two young children, she strives to create meaningful work that will last generations, whether in a glass box in a museum or ephemerally in our memories.

Follow her work here: @thinkwellstudiomontreal @efgrenier

Emily Paige - E.D. FILMS

Emily Paige is the Managing Partner: Production, Creative Director, and Co-founder at E.D. FILMS, a multidisciplinary animation studio in Montreal. Emily heads all of the company’s projects whether long and short linear films, virtual reality, R&D for technical tools, or immersive experiences. Specialized in leading diverse teams through the development, creation, and fabrication of animation, Emily has delivered a long list of projects, including specialized content for the “Indigenous Peoples Experience”, an immersive cultural attraction that is unique in its genre. Under the direction of Emily, the studio’s work has been honored with a Webby, an ARTE Pixel Prize, a Canadian Screen Award, a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Themed Entertainment Association, and more than 130 other prizes in festivals around the globe. In 2019, Emily was named an FCTMN Laureate (Women in Film, Television, and New Media) for her international work spotlighting Quebec’s digital innovations. Emily is often invited as a speaker, panelist, or judge in industry events around the world. The E.D. FILMS team occasionally allows her to leave the studio. Of relevance to Electric South, Emily has lived and worked in both West Africa (Ouagadougou) and in South Africa (Kayamandi).

Follow her work here: @e.d.films @ee.dee.films @E.D.Films @Emily Paige

Louis-Richard Tremblay - National Film Board of Canada

Louis-Richard Tremblay is an executive producer with the French Program’s Interactive Studio since 2019. He first stepped into a producer role with the NFB in 2013, after a dozen years at CBC/Radio-Canada. Fascinated by the power of interactive experiences and media of all kinds, he has guided numerous international co-productions at the NFB, helped produce dozens of award-winning works in Canada and internationally, and regularly participates in panels, conferences, and masterclasses. He is driven by the thrill of working with people who join forces to push the limits of their craft.

Follow his work here: @Louis Richard Tremblay