Oculus today announced that it’s bringing two VR experiences to this year’s Sundance Film Festival— the previously announced Traveling While Black for Oculus Go & Rift, and the newly unveiled The Under Presents for Oculus Quest.

The Under Presents

Oculus says in a blog post that The Under Presents lets you interact with characters and other participants within the experience’s magical ship called ‘The Under’.

According to Oculus, in ‘The Under’ the user enters a vaudeville stage that exists in a “special dimension outside time and space, where you are guided by a mysterious proprietor. ‘The Under’ operates on a loop with different live and recorded acts coming and going — and the main act ‘The Aickman’ is the story within the story.”

“There is a lot of interest in exploring the overlap of immersive theater and VR,” says Samantha Gorman, co-founder of Tender Claws. “The project’s narrative revolves around fate and free will and as part of that we’re interested in playing with the change of feeling of interacting with both pre-recorded and live characters. As well as other players and past recorded versions of themselves.”

The experience is said to arrive on Oculus Quest “later this year.”

Traveling While Black

Oculus also debuted Traveling While Blacka VR documentary film that centers on the history of restricted movement for Black Americans.

Directed by Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams and co-directed with Ayesha Nadarajah and Emmy-Award winning directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël (Felix & Paul), the project was created in collaboration with The New York Times Op-Docs.

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“It started as a need to talk about this forgotten period,” Williams says in the Oculus blog post. “It’s about connecting the past to the present and explaining to people that we, as Black people in America, are at risk every time we step out the front door. There’s a history that makes you anxious and tense because you carry it with you everywhere you go.”

“I hope Traveling While Black sparks a conversation that inspires real solutions and awareness,” Williams added. “If this film asks the right questions and gets people to think about this ongoing crisis in America — not avoid or gloss over it, just to have a profound discussion about race in America instead of looking the other way — then we’ve succeeded.”

Traveling While Black is available today on Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, and on the NYT Op-Docs page.

Sundance 2019 will be taking place from January 24th – February 3rd in Park City, Utah.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • fuyou2

    Dog Shit Graphics!..Just as expected from Quest.

    • saintkamus

      Well, yeah. It’s no secret it’s running a mobile processor.

    • namekuseijin

      you mean, like Rec Room or VR Chat?

  • MW

    SJW crap on mobile VR as newest tech news. O tempora, o mores!

    • Who’s this?

      That’s FB for ya.

    • Karen H. Baker

      watch A Dog’s Way Home HD 2019 . with the best quality and complete……….
      Click here –>> yesmoviehd1.blogspot.com

  • Who’s this?

    Lol they just can’t keep the race baiting politics out. VR is just getting started, the least they can do is stop trying to ruin the peace between individuals out of respect. At least for a little while.

  • Mike

    “have a profound discussion about race in America instead of looking the other way”
    No, actually everyone “looking the other way” is EXACTLY what we’re supposed to be doing – not obsessing over what color your skin is and misinterpreting anything that moves as racism. “Judge not by the color of skin by the content of character” – this was MLK’s message. Live it. Stop disrespecting his legacy and dishonoring his intent.

    • Nate Vander Plas

      I hate to assume, but you’re white I take it? Me too. I’m glad you’re someone who looks at character vs skin color, but just because you do doesn’t mean the whole country thinks that way. White guilt is real, and I get it, it can be exhausting to hear over and over how white people have oppressed black people. But I don’t think that the intention here is to make us white people feel guilty. It’s to help us understand what black people have been and continue to go through. I don’t think most black people want us to go down on our knees and beg forgiveness for something our ancestors did. I do think they’d appreciate less ignorance and more anti-racism rather than just pretending racism is a thing of the past that we can just “get over.”

      • Devin C

        The fact is black people are no longer oppressed, and most problems they face are due to their own culture. If they would actually stay in school, not run off on their kids, and not commit crime at such an extreme rate they could actually contribute to society in a positive way. Furthermore, many white people living here today are the children of immigrants that moved here after slavery was abolished and we dont owe them shit. The only group facing overt racism now is white people.

      • Mike

        I’m part white, part middle eastern. A couple times when I was a teenager I suspected people might have been racist towards me, but I quickly realized that no, it was other things that were causing me to be treated in particular ways.

        Our society has been at the point for a while now (though the past several years of race-baiting have caused it to backtrack a bit) where the optimal course of action to clean up remaining racism is 1.) Encourage neighborhood integration, and 2.) Yes, look the other way about what race(s) someone is.

        Actual racism should be treated the same as we treat child molestation – we all know it’s bad and almost everyone is against it, but we don’t go around obsessing about it every day. If it happens, people say “Whoah what the F, get out of here” and call the cops, etc.

  • JesuSaveSouls

    I see my posts get removed and I have purchased vr units,supported this site and also see people in the topics share of different types of views and subjects.I share my faith in Jesus and get stomped right ?

    • Graham

      i don’t know what was removed but I think your posts about VR are great contributions to the discussion. You clearly know your stuff. It’s the random posts just quoting bits of the bible for example that annoy people as they have no relevance to the article. You don’t see people post random bits from a car brochure for example even if cars are their passion.

  • Glad to see that Oculus Quest is already being used by creators!