Mostra Internazionale d Arte Cinematografica Venice

The selection of projects for Venice Immersive, the XR - Extended Reality section of the 79th 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:

• 30th August (afternoon): press preview
• 31st August: open exclusively to Press and Industry accreditations
• 1st - 10th 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 79th 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)
• 3 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
• 1 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.