Dust to Pointclouds: From hyper local narratives into worldbuilding
How is narrative -and form- transformed by interactions with technology, production challenges, and the voices and minds of the rightful owners of the story? How does it also change the end-user experience? What questions arise about inclusive design and creation involving technology?
Born in the town of Palenque, just a couple of hours from Barranquilla, El Beat is a story about music, rebellion, and resistance. Shaped by the voices of the palenquero people, it has evolved into a cross-platform project that stages the story of the African Diaspora in Latin America. Several years later, this living project continues to transform in diverse venues around the world, from Cartagena to Seoul.
Irene Lema is a pioneer in cross-platform and expanded reality (XR) in Latin America. Her expertise includes digital and new media. Her work has been showcased at prestigious international festivals, including SXSW in Austin, RedSea in Saudi Arabia, and FICCI in Latin America. She has been a fellow at the Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program and has received several awards, such as the Transmedia (2019) and the Documentary Creation Award (2010) from the Colombian Film Development Fund, as well as the New Media Fund from Proimagenes-Canada Media Fund (2017). She has been speaker at multiple spaces, like the MIT doc lab – worlding initiative.
She has a background in filmmaking and animation, with diverse experience writing, directing and producing for film, tv and major media. Irene is particularly interested in the intersection of narrative, technology, and global changes.