DOLBY INSTITUTE FELLOWSHIP FILM
It's the late 1920s in New York. The Harlem Renaissance is at its peak and Blacks and Whites live separate lives intersecting only where they must. Adapted from Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name, Passing follows two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Academy Award® nominee Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color divide.
Making her directorial debut and written for the screen by award-winning actress Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3, The Town) Passing is a compelling drama about racial identity, obsession, injustice, and the pain of denying your true self.
Hear how filmmaker Rebecca Hall, sound designer Jacob Ribicoff, and composer Devonté Hynes used Dolby Atmos to capture the interior lives of the characters and to portray the quieter moments in an “atmospheric” way.
Passing was awarded the Dolby Institute Fellowship in 2021 and premiered at Sundance. This post-production grant allowed the filmmakers to finish the film in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®. See it in limited theatrical release or watch on Netflix in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
Rebecca Hall on making the small and quiet powerful
The 2021 recipients of the Dolby Institute Fellowship, directors Rebecca Hall for Passing and Natalia Almada for Users, an elegiac documentary about the overwhelming prevalence of technology in the world, sat down with director of the Dolby Institute Glenn Kiser to discuss their processes. Both of these absolutely stunning films use high dynamic range video and immersive sound in intimate, almost personal ways.
Rebecca Hall on making the small and quiet powerful
The 2021 recipients of the Dolby Institute Fellowship, directors Rebecca Hall for Passing and Natalia Almada for Users, an elegiac documentary about the overwhelming prevalence of technology in the world, sat down with director of the Dolby Institute Glenn Kiser to discuss their processes. Both of these absolutely stunning films use high dynamic range video and immersive sound in intimate, almost personal ways.
And with Dolby Atmos, it just has a richness to it. And these very quiet sound effects become very thematically rich which was just so thrilling to get to do to have that luxury of instilling quiet sounds with all of the benefits of this technology.
Rebecca Hall, Director
Dolby Institute Fellowships
Now in its eighth year, the Dolby Institute Fellowship program gives independent filmmakers support and access to cutting-edge Dolby tools to fully realize their creative vision. Partnerships with the Sundance Institute, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and SFFILM help films find wide audiences.