Official Venice Immersive selection revealed ahead of La Biennale’s return

The selection of projects for Venice Immersive, the XR – Extended Reality section of the 79^th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, is now complete. The official selection will return to  the Venice Immersive Island (island of Lazzaretto Vecchio), a short distance from the Lido di Venezia, for the first time since 2019, on the following dates:

• 30^th August (afternoon): press preview
• 31^st August: open exclusively to Press and Industry accreditations
• 1^st – 10^th September: open to the public and all accredited visitors

Venice Immersive, the new title of the Venice VR Expanded section, intends to acknowledge the growth of immersive media beyond the technologies of Virtual Reality and to include all means of creative expression in XR – Extended Reality: 360° videos and XR works of any length, including installations, live performances and virtual worlds.

The Venice Immersive section of the 79^th Venice International Film Festival, following the success of its most recent online editions, will be held in person again this year, with the technical support of Meta and HTC Vive.

Venice Immersive will present 43 projects from 19 countries and 32 works in the Worlds Gallery section:

• 30 projects in Competition
• 10 projects Out of Competition – Best of Venice Immersive (international selection of the best XR works presented since the 2021 edition)
• Three projects developed during the Biennale College Cinema – VR: 1 project produced thanks to a grant from the sixth edition, 2 projects developed within the international workshop of the fourth edition
• 30 worlds selected for the Worlds Gallery with 2 Special Events, presented in 7 Guided World Hops in 75’ presentations
• One film Special Event – Out of Competition

The Venice Immersive World on VRChat, designed with the technical support of VRrOOm, will present a virtual version of the Venice Immersive Island. Following the success of the 2021 edition, the Worlds Gallery section has been renewed and will feature a selection of 30 virtual worlds and 2 special events. Additionally, Venice Immersive will screen the documentary feature film, We Met in Virtual Reality, filmed in VRChat and createdby Joe Hunting.

The Venice International Film Festival was one of the first film festivals in the world to show an interest in Virtual Reality. The development of a VR Theatre in 2016 sparked enormous interest among the participants of the Venice Production Bridge. Starting in 2017, La Biennale di Venezia launched the first competition for works in Virtual Reality in an A-list festival, which was held for three editions, through 2019, on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio on the Lido, judged by an International Jury. The online accessibility of Venice VR Expanded over the past two editions represented a new commitment and a new challenge to guarantee that the Venice International Film Festival would continue to offer the experience of this new art form, even in times of required social distancing.

Accredited visitors to the Venice Film Festival will have access to all the titles in the line-up. There will also be a special Venice Immersive subscription available for interested visitors who are not accredited at the Festival.

The members of the international Jury of Venice Immersive are:

• May Abdalla – president: (UK). Born in 1983 in the UK, has made documentaries around the world for BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera about housing, revolution and punk music. She is the co-founder of Anagram. Anagram is an award-winning creative studio specialising in thought-provoking interactive storytelling and immersive experience design. Created in 2013, the company won the Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes, participated in the Best of VR at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019 and won the Best Immersive Art award at the Sandbox Festival in China. In 2021, it won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice for the Best VR Work for Goliath: Playing with Reality.
• David Adler (Denmark) was born in 1985 and accepted into the prestigious National Film School of Denmark after having attended the Visual Arts and Design program at the Vancouver Film School. Latest work is the companion piece Taste of Hunger VR (2020), co-produced with Zentropa and selected for completion at Venice Film Festival. He returned to Venice with End of Night, which won the Best VR Story Award in 2021.
• Blanca Li (Spain) is a choreographer, film director, dancer and actress. In 1992, a young Spanish dancer landed in Paris from Madrid post movida and New York training. Soon, she founded her own contemporary dance company, which has set a successful, singular and independent position touring the whole world. With the glamour coming from her maturity and assumed artistic choices, crowned by her election to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2019. In 2021, her VR work Le bal de Paris de Blanca Li won the Best VR Experience award in Venice.

The Venice Immersive Jury will award the following prizes:

• Venice Immersive Best Experience
• Venice Immersive Grand Jury Prize
• Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize

VENICE IMMERSIVE

In Competition

Ascenders by Jonathan Astruc, Jonathan Tamene (France, 35’)

Tu vivras, mon fils by Victoria Bousis (Greece, USA, 35′)

Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa by Julie Cavaliere, Michaela Holland (USA, 15′)

Rencontre(s) by Mathias Chelebourg (France, 15′)

The Man Who Couldn’t Leave by Chen Singing (Tapei, 35′)

All Unsaved Progress Will Be Lost by Mélanie Courtinat (France, 10′)

Eurydice, Een Afdaling in Oneindigheid by Celine Daemen (Netherlands, 25′)

Okawari by Landia Egal, Amaury Burthé (France, Canada, 45′)

Dazzle: A Re-assembly of Bodies by Ruth Gibson, Bruno Martelli, Alexa Pollmann, Bine Roth (UK, 25′)

Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom by Russell Harding, Tim Jones, Marcus Moresby (UK, 30′)

From the Main Square by Pedro Harres (Germany, 19′)

Sorella’s Story by Peter Hegedus (Australia, Hungary, Sweden, 15′)

Eggscape by German Heller, Jorge Tereso, Frederico Heller (Argentina, 20′)

Typeman by Keisuke Itoh (Japan, 25′)

Kindred by Bambou Kenneth (UK, 9′)

Shiineui Bang by Bomsok Ku (South Korea, 23′)

Gumball Dreams by Deidre V. Lyons, Christopher Davis (USA, 60′)

Namuanki by Kevin Mack (USA, 45′)

Tmání by Ondřej Moravec (Czech Republic, Germany, 25′)

All That Remains by Quintero Craig (Taipei, 12′)

Rock Paper Scissors by Alex Ruhl (UK,  7′)

Thank you for Sharing your World by Yu Sakudo, Toshiaki Hanzaki (Japan, 22′)

Eternelle, Notre Dame by Bruno Seillier (France, 45′)

Framerate: Pulse of the Earth by Matthew Shaw, William Trossell (UK, 20′)

Mrs Benz: Voyage of Discovery by Eloise Singer (UK, 45′)

Uncanny Alley by Rick Treweek (South Africa, 20′)

Fight Back by Celine Tricart (France, USA, 40′)

Treasure Heist by Luan-Trinh (USA, 60′)

Mandala – A Brief Moment in Time by Thomas Villepoux (China, France, 45′)

Red Tail by Wang Fish (Taipei, 20′)

Best of Venice Immersive – Out of Competition

(an international selection of the best XR – Extended Reality works)

On the Morning you Wake (to the End of the World) by Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Pierre Zandrowicz, Arnaud Colinart (France, UK, USA, 42′)

(Hi)story of a Painting: The Light in the Shadow by Quentin Darras, Gaelle Mourre (UK, 15′)

Area Man Lives by Amy Green, Ryan Green (USA, 90′)

Lustration by Ryan Griffin (Australia, USA, 32′)

Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR by Jonathan Griffith (UK, France, USA, 60′)

Space Explorers: The ISS Experience – Episode 3: Unite by Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphael (Canada, 35′)

Space Explorers: The ISS Experience – Spacewalkers by Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphael (Canada, 20′)

Kingdom of Plants with David Attenborough by Iona McEwan (UK, USA, 15′)

The Miracle Basket by Abner Preis (Netherlands, 14′)

Shores of Loci by Ellen Utrecht, James Sundra, Dani Bittman, Daisy Berns (USA, 120′)

Biennale College Cinema – VR – Out of Competition

Elele by Sjoerd van Acker, producers: Firat Sezgin, Ecegul Bayram (Netherlands, 6′, produced with a grant from Biennale College Cinema VR, 6^th edition (2021/2022))

Mono by Chiara Troisi, producers Federico Lagna, Alice Drago, Matteo Fresi (Italy, 14′, developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 4th edition (2019/2020))

Chroma 11 by Tsang Tsui-Shan, producers: Kattie Fan, Teresa Kwong (Hong Kong SAR, 13′, developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 4th edition (2019/2020))

Worlds Gallery

Adrift by M E R C

Baroque Cathedral by OPCherry

Cave Okinawa by Tokoyoshi

Cue by 0b4k3

Disconnected: Video Feedback World by MomoTheMonster

District Roboto by Fins

Dream by Zanderthaw

Dubrovnik Main Streets and Old Port by nobelchoco

Fire Tornado by BigChickenLover

Fractal Explorer by ikamon

Fractal Explorer 1001 by 1001

Fractal Love by pema99

Friction [!] Function – Particle Live by Norimaki

Initum ⁄⁄⁄ イニシャル by Artsy Glitch

LLLL Silent Dawn Release Party by PK

Magic Heist by Fins

Night Church by OPCherry

Olympia Nights by DrMorro

Organism by DrMorro

Oxymore by VRrOOm

Particle Live Fixer by ฅらいちちゃんฅ

Shadow Factory by emymin

The Dice Dimension by FlyingFly

The Dinosaur Bone Gallery Museum by topgunsi

The Great Inventor Escape by FlowersRite花之祭P

The Rat King by _Digital

Venice Basilica Salute by nobelchoco

Venice Canal Widmann by nobelchoco

VMV CC Type 01 by skkn

Zeniarai Shrine Connected With Japaneland by 龍 lilea

Worlds Gallery – Special Events

Sanctum by PammeMatth

Soda by Issit

Special Event –Out of Competition

We Met in Virtual Reality by Joe Hunting (UK, 91’)

The first VIM – Venice Immersive Market (1 – 6 September), a part of the Venice Production Bridge, will take place on the Island of Lazzaretto Vecchio (Lido), in the Spazio Incontri Immersivo. There will be panel discussions and encounters dedicated to the world of XR – Extended Reality; also in attendance will be institutions, professionals, production, post-production and distribution companies, public and private funds linked to the Immersive world.

Finally, there will be a presentation of the Immersive projects selected for the Venice Gap-Financing Market (2 – 4 September):

16 IMMERSIVE STORY PROJECTS

16 Immersive Story Projects (11 from Europe and 5 from the rest of the world), The projects are both original stories and adaptations. All the projects have 30% of their budget guaranteed.

11 PROJECTS AT BIENNALE COLLEGE – IMMERSIVE STORY PROJECTS

11 projects developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR workshop, sixth edition, currently in various phases of development, from pre-production to post production.