The annual Venice International Film Festival is one of the biggest events in the industry calendar but like many has had to rethink the festival for 2020. That includes the virtual reality (VR) element, rebranded as Venice VR Expanded, whilst partnering with VRChat, HTC’s Viveport and Oculus TV to showcase content to audiences.
Venice VR Expanded is set to feature a range of creative pieces from around the world, 26 of which will be interactive whilst nine will be 360-degree films. These will include Gnomes & Goblins directed by John Favreau in collaboration with Wevr, Fireproof Studios’ The Room VR: A Dark Matter, Down the Rabbit Hole by Cortopia Studios, Baba Yaga from Baobab Studios and The Metamovie presents: Alien Rescue, a live virtual performance directed by Jason Moore, to name a few.
An international jury has been assembled for Venice VR Expanded 2020 which include Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, Oscar-winning feature film director Asif Kapadia and Celine Tricart recipient of a Lion award for Best VR Immersive Work. They’ll be awarding a Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work, Best VR Immersive User Experience and Best VR Immersive Story.
As this is the first time it’ll be an entirely online exhibition it’s fairly easy to take part and view the experiences. You can register for free access which will enable you to watch the 9 3DoF films through VRChat, Viveport and Oculus TV. Viveport will offer 25 6DoF projects whilst VRChat will have one. If you want to pay for accreditation status (€100 EUR) then you’ll get exclusive access to further projects, panels and other networking events.
There’s even a way for those without compatible headsets to join in. As part of the Venice VR Expanded Satellite Network has partnered with a number of institutions around the world to showcase the projects to visitors. These are:
- China Academy of Art – Sandbox Immersive Festival, Hangzhou
- Comédie de Genève, Geneva
- Design Center Flacon, Moscow
- Espace CENTQUATRE-PARIS – Diversion cinema, Paris
- ESPRONCEDA – Institute of Art & Culture, Barcelona
- Fondazione di Venezia – M9 – Museo del ‘900, Venice Mestre
- HTC Corporation – VIVE ORIGINALS, Taiwan
- INVR. SPACE, in Partnership with VRBB and supported by Medienbord, Berlin
- Laboratorio Aperto di Modena, ex Centrale AEM, Modena
- Laboratorio Aperto di Piacenza, ex Chiesa del Carmine, Piacenza
- Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen PHI Center, Montréal
- Portland Art Museum & Northwest Film Center, Portland
- Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
Now in its 77th year, the Venice International Film Festival will be taking place next month with Venice VR Expanded held between 2nd – 12th September 2020. For further updates on the event, keep reading VRFocus.
