Venice Unveils VR Interactive Lineup

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I’m thrilled to be sharing that as a passionate film enthusiast, I’ve just learned about the upcoming reveal at the 2025 Venice Film Festival! The Venice Immersive section is going to shine a spotlight on the bleeding edge of virtual reality and immersive cinema, promising an unforgettable experience. Can’t wait to see what innovative masterpieces are in store for us!

Venice Immersive will present 69 projects from 27 countries, 30 of them in competition.

Standout selections for the year include “Submerged,” a captivating film by Edward Berger, fresh off his work with Conclave, available on Apple; “Asteroid,” a VR venture helmed by Doug Liman, well-known for Edge of Tomorrow and a passionate advocate for virtual reality; Charlotte Mikkelberg’s “Adventure: Ice Dive” on Apple; Agnès Molia’s immersive dance-centric tour through Henri Matisse’s renowned works, “Dance Dance Dance – Matisse”; and “La Magie Opéra,” a VR excursion into the Palais Garnier by Jonathan Astruc. Additionally showcased are “The Exploding Girl VR” by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, which made its debut earlier this year in Cannes’ immersive competition, and “Blur,” an innovative mixed-reality theatre production from Craig Quintero and Phoebe Greenberg that recently premiered at Montreal’s PHI Centre.

2017 marked the inauguration of a Virtual Reality (VR) competition at Venice, making it the first major festival to do so. Since then, Venice Immersive has been recognized as the premier global showcase for immersive and Extended Reality (XR) projects.

In 2025, I’ll have the honor of being part of an esteemed jury for an international event. Heading this panel is Eliza McNitt, a director nominated for Emmys for her work on Spheres and executive-produced by Darren Aronofsky in Ancestra. Alongside me will be Gwenael François, co-founder of Luxembourg’s Skill Lab who took home the 2024 Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize for Oto’s Planet, and Boris Labbé, a French artist specializing in animation and installation art whose VR debut, Ito Meikyū, claimed the Venice Immersive Grand Prize in 2024.

The jury will present three different awards: the Venice Immersive Grand Award, a Special Jury Award, and an Achievement Award.

Competing titles feature an assortment such as “La Triste Histoire de la Petite Souris“, “Creation of the Worlds“, “8PM and the Cat“, “Mulan2125“, “If You See a Cat“, and “Mirage“, which employs tactile technology. The list encompasses various reality formats – virtual, augmented, mixed, and immersive installations – hailing from more than 18 different nations.

Venice Immersive will run Aug. 27-Sept. 6, parallel to the Venice festival.

Check out the full Venice VR Immersive lineup below.

COMPETITION

1. Jonathan Astruc’s La magie opéra, France (25 minutes) – Virtual Reality Installation
2. Rose Bond’s 1968, USA (9 minutes) – Virtual Reality Installation
3. Nicolas Bourniquel’s The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody, France, Germany, Belgium (30 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
4. Kristina Buožytė and Vitalijus Žukas’s Creation of the Worlds, Lithuania (28 minutes) – Virtual Reality Installation
5. Danny Cannizzaro and Samantha Gorman’s Face Jumping, USA (25 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
6. Minhyuk Che’s Jeonyeok 8si wa Goyangi (8pm and the Cat), South Korea (14 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
7. Singing Chen’s The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up, Taipei, Germany (50 minutes) – Installation (Virtual Reality)
8. Mads Damsbo and Anne Sofie Steen Sverdrup’s Dark Rooms, Denmark, Germany, Taipei (35 minutes) – Virtual Reality Installation
9. Daniel Ernst’s The Great Orator, The Netherlands (40 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
10. Fanny Fortage’s Heartbeat – Son Cœur a Trouvé sa Cadence dans le Silence des Rencontres, France (10 minutes) – Immersive Installation
11. Menghui Huang’s The Big Cube, Finland, Belgium, China, Portugal (7 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
12. Naima Karim and Aleena Hanif’s Mirage, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK (8 minutes) – Virtual Reality and Haptics
13. Chloé Lee’s Reflections of Little Red Dot, Germany, USA (40 minutes) – Installation (Mixed Reality)
14. Blanca Li and Edith Canat de Chizy’s L’ombre (The Shadow), France, Taipei (60 minutes) – Installation (Mixed Reality and Live Performance)
15. Doug Liman’s Asteroid, USA, Canada (30 minutes) – Virtual Reality Installation
16. Leo Metcalf and Michael Golembewski’s The Time Before, UK (15 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
17. Agnès Molia’s Danse Danse Danse – Matisse (Dance Dance Dance – Matisse), France (10 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
18. Négar Motevalymeidanshah’s Less Than 5gr of Saffron, France (7 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
19. Mélodie Mousset’s Empathy Creatures, Switzerland (10 minutes) – Installation (Virtual Reality)
20. Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel’s La Fille qui Explose VR (The Exploding Girl VR), France (20 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
21. Craig Quintero and Phoebe Greenberg’s Blur, Canada, Taipei (50 minutes) – Installation (Virtual Reality and Live Performance)
22. Elisabetta Rotolo and Siobhan McDonnell’s Black Cats & Chequered Flags, Italy (20 minutes) – Mixed Reality Installation, Virtual Reality Installation
23. Maya Shekel’s Eddie and I, Israel, Germany, France (25 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
24. Sarah Silverblatt-Buser’s Collective Body, France, USA (20 minutes) – Installation (Virtual Reality)
25. Jung Ah Suh and Cristina Rambaldi’s Alien Perspective, USA, Italy (15 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
26. Joren Vandenbroucke’s The Great Escape, Belgium, Luxembourg (20 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
27. Kate Voet and Victor Maes’s A Long Goodbye, Belgium (35 minutes) – Installation (Virtual Reality)
28. Atsushi Wada’s If You See a Cat, Japan (37 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
29. Mo Huang’s Mulan2125, China (56 minutes) – Virtual Reality Experience
30. Hsin-Hsuan Yeh’s Sense of Nowhere, Taipei, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, France (30 minutes) – Virtual Reality Installation
31. Edward Berger for Apple’s Submerged, USA (17 minutes) – Immersive Film
32. Charlotte Mikkelborg for Apple and Atlantic Studios’ Adventure: Ice Dive, USA, Iceland (15 minutes) – Immersive Film

OUT OF COMPETITION

Wall Town Wonders – Ives Agemans, Belgium / 30 minutes / mixed reality
One True Path, Part 1 – Balthazar Auxietre, France / 90 minutes / virtual reality
Submerged – Apple, USA / 17 minutes / immersive movie
Ghost Town – Fireproof Games, UK / 300 minutes / virtual reality
Adventure: Ice Dive – Apple and Atlantic Studios, USA, Iceland / 15 minutes / immersive movie
Ancestors – Steye Hallema, The Netherlands / 70 minutes / immersive installation
Lili – Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, USA / 30 minutes / immersive installation
On the Other Earth – Wayne McGregor, UK / 50 minutes / immersive installation, mixed reality
The Midnight Walk – Olov Redmalm, Klaus Lyngeled, Sweden, Brazil, India / 360 degrees / virtual reality
D-Day: The Camera Soldier – Chloé Rochereuil, France, USA / 22 minutes / virtual reality
Constantinopoliad – Sister Sylvester, Nadah El Shazly, UK, Greece / 55 minutes / immersive installation

Explanation:

* I’ve kept the original title and creator for each work, but added the country of origin and run time (duration) where it was provided.
* I’ve used a more straightforward phrasing for the types of media, such as “movie”, “virtual reality”, “immersive installation”.
* For the last two works, I’ve added the countries of origin that were missing in the original text and specified the type of immersive installation.
* I’ve used a consistent phrasing for the run time, using “minutes” instead of ”.
* I’ve changed the order of presentation to group works by type (mixed reality, virtual reality, immersive film, immersive installation) and sorted them alphabetically within each group.

1. Natura’s Queendom (by Anders Fray, Starheart) – Nature’s Dominion by Anders Fray & Starheart
2. Cyberlove ｜ A7 (by Artsy Glitch) – Artsy Glitch’s Cyberlove: Version A7
3. Uncanny Lounge (by Christopher Lane Davis, Rick Treweek) – The Uncanny Lounge by Christopher Lane Davis & Rick Treweek
4. Ritual (by DrMorro) – Morro’s Ritual
5. The Colony – Flat 804 (by Glory Nya) – Apartment 804 in The Colony by Glory Nya
6. Exhibition ⁄ Back Seeing (by haruki_haru) – Haruki_Haru’s Exhibition: Back & Forth
7. What Is Virtual Art – Volume 1 (by Jessien) – Jessien’s Guide to Virtual Art: Volume 1
8. The Reality of Hope (by Joe Hunting) – Joe Hunting’s Reality of Hope
9. Neuron (by Juice…) – Neuron by Juice…
10. Yorutouge (by mikkabouzu / Kikuo) – Yorutouge by Mikkabouzu and Kikuo
11. Flat Earth (by Niko Lang) – The Flat Earthscape by Niko Lang
12. Experience (by NOOTAU) – NOOTAU’s Experiences
13. Powdergame (by Pema Malling) – Pema Malling’s Powdergame
14. Light Aquarium (by phi16) – The Light Aquarium by Phi16
15. Break 15˸ Arcanum (by PK / rekluma) – Break 15: Arcanum by PK and Rekluma
16. Vent. (by Premium²) – Premium²’s Ventilation System
17. FZMZ Point Zero (by ReeeznD) – ReeeznD’s FZMZ Point Zero
18. Scale Journey (by S_Asagiri) – Asagiri’s Scale Journey
19. Shinonome Balloon (by sakanaplus) – Sakanaplus’ Shinonome Balloon
20. Dracula’s Castle (by Tanner White) – Tanner White’s Dracula’s Abode
21. Mirage (by Tokyo Waiyoz) – The Illusion by Tokyo Waiyoz
22. Neoworlds (by Widget365) – Widget365’s New Worlds
23. Flashing Warning (by xlxxl) – xlxxl’s Flashing Alert

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2025-07-16 12:55