Venice Film Festival Reveals Official 2023 Immersive Selection

Finalmente Eu (Finally Me) by Marcio Sal

The 80th Venice International Film Festival taking place 30th August – 9th September 2023), unveiled the selection of projects for Venice Immersive, the XR – Extended Reality section.

Venice Immersive is entirely devoted to immersive media and includes all XR means of creative expression: 360° videos and XR works of any length, including installations and virtual worlds.

Venice Immersive will present 44 projects from 25 countries and 24 works in the Worlds Gallery section: including 28 projects in Competition, 10 projects Out of Competition, 6 projects developed during the Biennale College Cinema – VR and 24 worlds selected for the Worlds Gallery,.

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 two editions (2020 and 2021) 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. In 2022 the section, renamed Venice Immersive, returned in person to the island.

The members of the international Jury of Venice Immersive are Singing Chen – president: (Taipei), German Heller: (USA) is the co-founder and CEO of 3DAR, and Pedro Harres: (Brazil) a director, animator, screenwriter and multimedia artist.

VENICE IMMERSIVE

In Competition

EMPEREUR (EMPEROR)
by MARION BURGER, ILAN COHEN
France, Germany / 35’

SONGS FOR A PASSERBY
by CELINE DAEMEN
Netherlands / 25’

TULPAMANCER
by MARC DA COSTA, MATTHEW NIEDERHAUSER
USA / 20’

REMEMBER THIS PLACE: 31°20’46’’N 34°46’46’’E
by PATRICIA ECHEVERRIA LIRAS
Palestine, Qatar, Spain / 25’

LETTERS FROM DRANCY
by DARREN EMERSON
USA, UK / 22’

THE IMAGINARY FRIEND
by STEYE HALLEMA
Netherlands, Belgium, France / 26’

WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE GRAND GETAWAY
by FINBAR HAWKINS, BRAM TTWHEAM, LAWRENCE BENETT
France, UK / 60’

SEN
by KEISUKE ITOH
Japan / 15’

MY NAME IS O90
by SIYEON KIM
South Korea / 14’

COMFORTLESS
by GINA KIM
South Korea, USA / 15’

BODY OF MINE
by CAMERON KOSTOPOULOS
USA / 20’

ONEROOM-BABEL
by SANGHEE LEE
South Korea / 15’

CHEN XIANG VR
by LIU YUEJUN, WU NANNI, SHI TAO, XU JINGQIU
China / 45’

FLOW
by ADRIAAN LOKMAN
Netherlands, France / 15’

HOME
by TEMSUYANGER LONGKUMER
UK / 32’

PEUPLER (POPULATE)
by MAYA MOUAWAD, CYRIL LAURIER
France, Lebanon / 10’

FLOATING WITH SPIRITS
by JUANITA ONZAGA
Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands / 31’

SYUHASUU (FREQUENCY)
by ELLIE OMIYA
Japan / 25’

PEPITOS: THE BEAK SAGA
by RUXANDRA GABRIELA POPESCU
UK, USA / 13’

JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: THE SEVEN RAVENS
by PAUL RAPHAËL, FÉLIX LAJEUNESSE
Canada, USA / 20’

PERENNIALS
by ZOE ROELLIN
USA / 17’

FINALMENTE EU (FINALLY ME)
by MARCIO SAL
Brazil / 14’

GARGOYLE DOYLE
by ETHAN SHAFTEL
USA, Argentina, Austria / 38’

AUFWIND (UPWIND)
by FLORIAN SIEBERT
Germany / 28’

HORSE CANYON
by NPROWLER
Canada / 60’

SHADOWTIME
by SISTER SYLVESTER, DENIZ TORTUM
Netherlands, USA, Turkey / 20’

COMPLEX 7
by FINS
USA / 30’

SPOTS OF LIGHT
by ADAM WEINGROD
Israel, Canada / 14’

Best of Immersive – Out of Competition

(international selection of the best works that have been released or premiered elsewhere since the last edition of the Venice International Film Festival)

ANOTHER FISHERMAN’S TALE
by ALEXIS MOROZ, BALTHAZAR AUXIETRE
France / 240’

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S CONQUEST OF THE SKIES
by LEWIS BALL
UK, USA / 22’

THE FIRST INGREDIENT: TALES FROM SODA ISLAND – CH. 7
by SIMONE FOUGNIER
USA / 17’

SPACE EXPLORERS: BLUE MARBLE – ORBIT 1
by FÉLIX LAJEUNESSE, PAUL RAPHAËL
Canada / 24’

THE UTILITY ROOM
by LIONEL MARSDEN
UK / 80’

CONSENSUS GENTIUM
by KAREN PALMER
UK, USA / 25’

FORAGER
by WINSLOW PORTER, ELIE ZANANIRI
USA / 8’

OVER THE RAINBOW
by CRAIG QUINTERO
Taipei / 11’

PIXEL RIPPED 1978
by ANA RIBEIRO
USA / 20’

GAUDI, L’ATELIER DU DIVIN
by STÉPHANE LANDOWSKI, GAËL CABOUAT
France, Japan / 17’

Biennale College Cinema – VR – Out of Competition

QUEER UTOPIA: ACT I CRUISING
by LUI AVALLOS producer: RODRIGO MOREIRA
Portugal, Brazil / 25’
developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 6th edition (2021/2022)

TALES OF THE MARCH
by STEFANO CASERTANO, producers: STEFANO CASERTANO, TIM DEUSSEN
Germany, Italy / 12’
developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 5th edition (2020/2021)

FIRST DAY
by VALERIY KORSHUNOV, producer: SVITLANA KORSHUNOVA
Ukraine / 15’
produced with the grant from Biennale College Cinema VR, 7th edition (2022/2023)

HUMAN VIOLINS – PRELUDE
by IOANA MISCHIE, producers: IOANA MISCHIE, SORIN BAICAN, JEREMY SAHEL & co
Romania, France / 19’
developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 5th edition (2021/2022)

ORIGEN
by EMILIA SÁNCHEZ CHIQUETTI, producer: EMILIA SÁNCHEZ CHIQUETTI
Brazil / 25’
developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 5th edition (2020/2021)

A VOCAL LANDSCAPE
by OMID ZAREI, ANNE JEPPESEN, producers: OMID ZAREI, ANNE JEPPESEN
Denmark, USA / 14’
developed during the Biennale College Cinema VR, 4th edition (2019/2020)