FIVARS Talks, Panels and Special Presentations are included with the purchase of any ticket/wristband. They run daily in the Expansion Space at the Toronto Media Arts Centre from 4-5pm.

Get tickets now.

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More about our special guests:

Friday, September 13th, 2019

ED CALLWAY – ENTERTAINMENT ARCHITECT
COMPANY: AMD
Ed Callway has been designing entertainment PC products for nearly 30 years. At ATI/AMD products include sound and graphics cards, the award winning All-in-Wonder graphics + TV tuner series, STB/DTV designs, as well as algorithms for video and display processing. His current work is focused on Virtual Reality in public spaces.

THOMAS WALLNER – FOUNDER / CEO
COMPANY: LIQUID CINEMA INC. / 360FLIX
Thomas Wallner brings a long track record of innovation in storytelling which is shaping and inspiring the next generation of innovators in VR around the world. With Liquid Cinema Thomas Wallner provides cutting edge software tools that enable creators to tell highly immersive stories across multiple platforms while making the underlying technologies invisible. Summer 2018 Thomas will launch 360Flix, a powerful platform that lets creators distribute their content with ease across multiple brand platforms and languages.

Saturday, September 14th, 2019

BRETT LEONARD – DIRECTOR – “HOLLYWOOD ROOFTOP“
For over 25 years, Brett Leonard has been at the forefront of the digital media revolution – whether it be as Director/ Writer of the groundbreaking cult-classic film Lawnmower Man, which introduced the concept of Virtual Reality to popular culture – or being the first to pioneer modern stereoscopic techniques and photo-realistic CGI in his hit IMAX 3D film “T-Rex” – or introducing American audiences to Russell Crowe and many other talents both in front of and behind the camera – Brett’s work as a visionary Director/Producer/Futurist has always pushed the edge of innovation in the entertainment industry, and continues to do so with a project slate at his company Studio Lightship, focused on creation of VX (Virtual eXperience) executed in a hybrid approach with Film and Television. Studio Lightship is dedicated to defining a process and platform for truly interactive narrative VX StoryWorlds for the emerging era of Immersive Entertainment.

TYLER HUYSER – DIRECTOR – “WALK IN MY SHOES“
Tyler Huyser is a Columbia University graduate whose career has touched the fields of marketing, media, and entertainment. He won Best First Time Filmmaker at the Young Filmmaker Awards in 2016 and has had works screen at the like of the Miami International Film Festival and Harlem International Film Festival. Most importantly, being a minority, Tyler has been a proponent of diversity & inclusion throughout his career, being involved in various employee resource groups, such as Out 4 Undergrad (O4U) and Vaysians.

JEFF STANZLER – DIRECTOR – “STATE POWER“
A filmmaker drawn to stories looted from the tumult of our times, Jeff Stanzler was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for SORRY,HATERS and has films that have played in the Sundance, Toronto, Venice and AFI film festivals. He has directed an array of award winning actors such as Robin Wright, Tim Roth, James Gandolfini, Sam Jackson, Julianna Magulies, Sandra Oh – as well as working with notable Producers: Lawrence Kasdan, Mark Waters, John Sloss and HBO.

DAVID HAN – PRODUCER – “AFTER DAN GRAHAM“
David Han is a media artist, scholar and educator whose work employs emerging technology to explore the boundaries between computation, cinema and immersive media. His current practice employs a structuralist approach to explore the affective potential of virtual reality (VR) and aims to understand and expand the range of possibilities for creative practice in VR.

MARILÈNE OLIVER – ARTIST – “DEEP CONNECTION”
Marilène Oliver works at a crossroads between new digital technologies, traditional print and sculpture, her finished objects bridging the virtual and the real worlds. Oliver uses various scanning technologies, such as MRI and CT to reclaim the interior of the body and create art works that allow us to materially contemplate our increasingly digitised selves. An assistant professor of printmaking at the University of Alberta, Canada, Oliver studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art where she obtained an MPhil with research project ‘Flesh to Pixel, Flesh to Voxel, Flesh to XYZ’. Oliver has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe in both private and public galleries. Her work is held in a number of private collections around the world as well as a number of public collections such as The Wellcome Trust, Victoria and Albert Museum and Knoxville Museum of Art.

Sunday, September 14th, 2019

NIMROD SHANIT – DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER – “THE HOLY CITY“
An award-winning director and producer of feature length fiction and non-fiction films. A veteran executive producer of international co-productions and a pioneer of the first completely integrated virtual reality studio in Israel, under the hospice
of the Tower of David innovation lab.

TIMUR MUSABAY – CO-DIRECTOR
One of Occupied VR’s co-founders and creative leads, Timur Musabay has been directing within the world of Virtual Reality since its initial resurgence. Although a young company, Occupied has already developed Immersive Experiences for such brands as: Samsung, Sony, Nike, Intel, Mad Decent, Ridley Scott & Associates, Universal, David Cronenberg, Flying Lotus, and VICE.”

SAINTFIELD
SAINTFIELD is a collaboration between life partners Ciara Adams and Ali Jafri. The pending debut album of this project is a collection of songs and music with beautifully juxtaposed elements of the feminine and masculine, light and dark, soft and harsh, loud and quiet, old and new wrapped in Celtic, Contemporary, South Asian and Middle Eastern flavours. A true reflection of the couple behind the music, rhythms and lyrics.