Interactive Storytelling as a Catalyst for Social Change in Documentary Work
Overview
What is it?
Interactive and emerging storytelling formats are reshaping the possibilities and responsibilities of nonfiction storytelling.
This CFC Satellite session reveals how new technologies are transforming not just what documentary stories can look like, but what they can do. Explore how new approaches can expand creative potential, deepen audience participation, and introduce new questions about intention, integrity, and authorship. Drawing on practical insights and lessons from Gabo Arora’s past projects, the session will show how different mediums can support more meaningful engagement and real-world impact. It will also offer a clear framework for evaluating new technologies and determining when, and how, they should be used to advance the purpose of the work.
Session Date
January 15, 2026 from 1:30pm-4pm EST
This Satellites session is led by...
Gabo Arora
CEO, LightShed
Gabo Arora is a filmmaker, artist, and entrepreneur recognized as a pioneer of virtual and mixed reality storytelling. He was the United Nations’ first Creative Director and Senior Advisor, where he launched groundbreaking immersive documentaries such as Clouds Over Sidra and The Last Goodbye—works credited with reshaping humanitarian storytelling and now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art.
Arora is the founder of LightShed, a creative technology studio advancing social impact through emerging media, and of Lightshed.Health, which develops mixed reality training modules for medical education in partnership with leading institutions. He also created and directed the Immersive Storytelling & Emerging Technologies program at Johns Hopkins University.
Today he directs MoMI LAB, a new civic hub at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens that brings artists, technologists, and communities together to explore the cultural and ethical implications of AI and emerging technologies. His work—recognized with honors from SXSW, the Webbys, and the World Economic Forum—continues to merge art, technology, and social good to build platforms for empathy, learning, and civic imagination.
