Venice Immersive marks its tenth anniversary at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival with 68 projects from 26 countries. The section, which runs September 2 through 12 on Lazzaretto Vecchio island, has announced 30 works in competition, 22 of them world premieres, with 35 additional titles screening out of competition.
Launched in 2017 as the first competition for extended reality works at an A-list film festival, Venice Immersive has grown into the medium's most visible showcase. The tenth-anniversary lineup carries considerable name recognition. Andy Serkis co-directs Nevatars, a 31-minute XR installation voiced by Daisy Ridley and Kathleen Turner. Anthony Geffen's Galapagos: The Last Eden runs 60 minutes in XR with narration by Margot Robbie. Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako brings Artou, a virtual reality work narrated and co-produced by Omar Sy. Mark Ruffalo narrates Solwata, a climate refugee documentary from Felix Gaedtke and Gayatri Parameswaran.
The lineup also includes Bowie: Unseen Unheard, an immersive audiovisual installation assembled from rare photographs taken by David Bowie's official photographer Denis O'Regan, created alongside director Nick Ryan. The project arrives on the tenth anniversary of the musician's death.
The competition jury is led by Paul Raphaël, the Emmy Award-winning Canadian co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios, alongside Iranian filmmaker Négar Motevalymeidanshah and Belgian director Kate Voet. The jury will award the Venice Immersive Grand Prize, Special Jury Prize, and Achievement Prize. The Venice Immersive Market, now in its fifth edition, runs September 3 through 9 with 14 gap-financing projects.