Relive Multiple Past Lives at the ‘Infinite’ ISM Hexadome Experience at SXSW 2020

To promote the upcoming sci-fi film Infinite, about a man with recurring visions that turn out to be memories from his past lives, Paramount Pictures is partnering with the art collective Little Cinema to present The Infinite ISM Hexadome Experience at SXSW 2020.

Described as an “immersive reimagining” of Infinite, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Mark Wahlberg, the audiovisual installation consists of six oversized screens, Epson advanced laser projection technology and a bespoke 52-channel Meyer Sound Labs spatial sound system, offering audiences complete, 360° cinematic immersion. The Infinite ISM Hexadome Experience uses hundreds of hours of footage from Infinite as well as from older films in the Paramount library to allow participants to feel what it would be like to have memories collected over several different lifetimes.

Little Cinema has previously presented a feature-length adaptation of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! for the ISM Hexadome at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, followed by an adaptation of The Neverending Story, presented in collaboration with German film studio Constantin Films, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). While the Infinite ISM Hexadome Experience is not a complete adaptation of the film, the 11-minute immersive experience is a one-of-a-kind event that film fans and science fiction buffs alike should check out at SXSW. The installation will be open to SXSW attendees and the general public on March 14th and 15th at ACL Live at the Moody Theater from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

For Evan McCauley (Mark Wahlberg), skills he has never learned and memories of places he has never visited haunt his daily life. Self-medicated and on the brink of a mental breakdown, a secret group that call themselves “Infinites” come to his rescue, revealing to him that his memories are real – but they are from multiple past lives. The Infinites bring Evan into their extraordinary world, where a gifted few are given the ability to be reborn with their memories and knowledge accumulated over centuries. With critical secrets buried in his past, Evan must work with the Infinites to unlock the answers in his memories in a race against time to save humanity from one of their own (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who seeks to destroy it.

BY TOM REIMANN