The Future of Storytelling

Storytelling is not just important; it is vital for advocacy and communication in political affairs. This presentation organized by the DPPA Innovation Cell focused on the future of storytelling and how it is being shaped by emerging technologies that help elicit new emotions, new perspectives, and a renewed engagement to important issues to which we have become numb. In his presentation, Gabo Arora demonstrates that the storytelling of tomorrow goes beyond the framing of the subject, but involves embodiment, the power of being there, and connecting viscerally with the presence of another and sharing in their story and world. Gabo Arora is an award-winning filmmaker, creative technologist, and Founder/CEO of LIGHTSHED, a storytelling, technology and research studio focusing on emerging technologies currently known as VR, AR and AI. He is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he designed, leads and is the Founding Director of the new Immersive Storytelling and Emerging Technology (ISET) program and lab. He has directed, produced and pioneered a series of widely acclaimed virtual reality documentaries (Clouds Over Sidra, Waves of Grace, My Mother's Wing, amongst others) for the United Nations that have all premiered at major film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance and Tribeca Film Festival, featured at the World Economic Forum in Davos, screened at the White House, and have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art's inaugural program on immersive storytelling.