Hot off the heels of the Tribeca, Cannes, and NewImages film festivals is the 78th Venice International Film Festival. The festival runs September 1st through the 11th and will also have its Venice VR Expanded program online through the 19th. The Venice International Film Festival was one of the first A-List film festivals to show interest in Virtual Reality and they have quickly advanced to showcasing works in VR. The online accessibility of Venice VR Expanded was born in the 2020 edition and represents a new commitment and a new challenge to guarantee that the Venice International Film Festival will continue to offer the experience of the rapidly evolving art form that is Virtual Reality.
This Year, however, in addition to the showcases available on HTC Viveport and Oculus Venues there will also be the inclusion of a special VRChat world. Here guests can view previews of the submissions as well as socialize with other guests as they explore 35 hand-selected environments. Guests can join events such as meeting the artists and creators behind the works, opening and closing ceremonies, as well as live performances on the platform.
VRChat recently raised 80 million dollars in its last batch of fundraising and is one of the most popular social VR platforms. With over 40,000 concurrent users and more than 2.5 million follows on Twitch.tv. Their involvement can bring the film festival to the platform and help expose more people to the creator’s works. In addition, this can inspire future content creators to submit their own works and possibly be part of future lineups. For a lineup of this year’s submissions, visit here to see the contestants. With the uniqueness that XR gives as a medium, artists in the space are at the cutting edge of what can be done to fulfill people’s senses.
