Category: Cannes XR 2021

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Virtual Film Festival XR3 Returns Tomorrow

XR3 - MOR

Last month Cannes XR, Tribeca Immersive and NewImages Festival collaborated on an XR industry first, a multi festival event held inside the Museum of Other Realities (MOR) called XR3. Also, rather unusually, access to XR3 online was split across two dates, with the next availability starting tomorrow 6th July.

Tribeca - MOR

MOR used to cost around £15 GBP on Steam and Viveport yet for the launch of XR3 in June the app was free to download. That’s going to remain so from now on, with MOR Museums Inc. confirming the app would be permanently free this month. If you did purchase MOR: “We want to thank everyone who purchased the MOR app, as without you, we wouldn’t be here. We’ll be in touch soon with in-app gifts of gratitude,” the company said in a tweet.

As for XR3, once you’ve got MOR downloaded you can then purchase each film festival’s content selection separately, providing plenty of titles for all you immersive film fans out there – there are over 30 works to explore. There’s a really wide variety of artistic expression on show, highlighting some of the amazing work being created within the XR industry.

Some of these you might already be familiar with as they’ve now been publically released for headsets. Most recently was the 45-minute mystery adventure Madrid Noir, developed by No Ghost and produced by Atlas V, arriving for Oculus Quest last week. Even Cortopia Studios’ puzzle videogame Down the Rabbit Hole makes an appearance.

Jailbirds

The XR3 content lineup:

  • Tribeca Immersive
    • The Changing Same: Episode 1
    • Critical Distance
    • Bystanding: The Feingold Syndrome
    • Jailbirds
    • Madrid Noir
    • Marco & Polo Go Round
    • Missing Pictures
    • Paper Birds Pt. 1 & 2
    • POV: Points of View
    • A Life in Pieces: The Diary and Letters of Stanley Hayami
    • The Passengers: The Kid
    • We Are At Home
    • Mine
  • NewImages Festival
    • Down the Rabbit Hole
    • Strands of Mind
    • Amends
    • Lady Sapiens, The Experience
    • Biolum
    • Paper Birds
    • Namoo
    • Jailbirds
    • Marco & Polo Go Round
    • We Are At Home
    • Kinshasa Now
    • Noah’s Raft
    • Reeducated
  • Cannes XR
    • The Dawn of Art
    • Agence
    • Book of Distance
    • Corpus Misty
    • Deep

XR3 via the Museum of Other Realities runs from 6th – 17th July for the final time. For all the latest immersive film updates, keep reading VRFocus.

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Museum of Other Realities is Currently Free as Cannes, Tribeca and NewImages Launch XR3 Exhibition

Tribeca - MOR

Normally, film festivals tend to spread themselves out over the course of spring and summer to gain maximum exposure and attendance. What with the current situation regarding live events most have turned to a digital format to reach audiences. This has led to three major shows, Cannes XR, Tribeca Immersive and NewImages Festival combining efforts this week to showcase their immersive content across one hybrid event, XR3.

Jailbirds

To make this happen all three VR selections have been made available through the Museum of Other Realities (MOR), a virtual exhibition space that has previously been used for a number of events over the past year. Usually, these types of events aren’t always freely accessible or cheap but XR3 provides the best opportunity yet to view a varied selection of immersive works. To start with, MOR is currently free until 21st June 2021 – rather than the usual price of £15.49 GBP – via Steam and Viveport so it’s well worth adding to your library at any rate.

Each of the individual festivals are then paid DLC, all priced at £11.39 ($15 USD), so there’s not one giant entry fee if you want to see one particular selection. You can also gain entry into the festivals if you’ve bought one of their own passes or received accreditation. It’s worth noting that the DLC will only be available for a limited time, in two parts. Part one is open now until 20th June, after which the XR3 showcase will be closed until July. It’ll then reopen between 6th – 17th July.

If you’re into VR and how creators are blending storytelling with immersive filmmaking then XR3 has a lot to offer. Between all three selections there are over 50 works to explore, showcasing the amazing breadth of talent currently pursuing immersive arts. Due to the sheer amount of content you’ll need to ensure your computer has plenty of space as the DLC are download-heavy files, ranging between 30-50GB each.

Bystanding: The Feingold Syndrome

Works include 2021 premieres as well as previously released content like Paper Birds from last year. New projects exhibiting at XR3 include Madrid Noir, a 45-minute animated caper; Jailbirds, a tale about the prison system and freedom; Bystanding: The Feingold Syndrome, an immersive docufiction sharing the confessions of people who witnessed a kayak-rower drown, and Unity for Humanity Showcase which houses five works inside the Unity Garden.

Plus, if you happen to be in New York City, the Tribeca Film Festival is also hosting live, in-person events for all the works being shown. That includes the VR content at special locations. There’s also works such as the Inside Goliath – an account of one man’s experience of living with schizophrenia and psychosis – VR installation which can only be viewed in person.

The trend for virtual events looks set to stay as festivals can reach a much broader audience, so VRFocus will continue to cover these exciting developments.

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Submissions Open for Cannes XR VeeR Future Award 2021

Cannes XR - Marche du Film Festival de Cannes

This July, Marché du Film’s dedicated Cannes XR programme will be returning to showcase a wealth of immersive works from creators around the world. Virtual reality (VR) entertainment platform VeeR will be returning, collaborating with Cannes XR on VeeR VR Cinema. As part of the event, artists submissions have been opened for the VeeR Future Award 2021.

VeeR - Cannes XR 2021

Expanding its Cinema content selection beyond 360-degree films to 3 degree-of-freedom (3DoF) and 6DoF content, artists worldwide are encouraged to submit their works for the competition. There will be two awards given, one for Best VR Story and the other for Best VR Interactive Experience, each awarded $1000 USD and a Premium Distribution package on VeeR.

VeeR VR Cinema will feature a selection of immersive and innovative works which showcase VR storytelling.  Those chosen for the Cannes XR virtual showcase and will be able to participate in offline showcases in China (with exhibition fee offered by VeeR), helping get the projects in front of investors, media and audiences.

“We are very proud to present together with VeeR a selection of the best XR narrative contents,” said Jérôme Paillard, Executive director of the Marché du Film in a statement. “VeeR is a leader in the XR sector and a strong partner of the Marché du Film and of Cannes XR. Through this partnership, we are highlighting the strong links between the XR community and the film industry.”

Cannes XR

“This is our second year collaborating with Cannes XR,” says Jingshu Chen, Co-founder of VeeR. “Last year, as the sole Chinese partner of Cannes XR, we hosted both world-wide online exhibitions and local offline exhibitions in China. The showcase brought top-tier VR works to VR communities and beyond, attracting attention from the film industry, tech companies and investors. We received encouraging feedback from the audience, and collaborated with respected organizations to distribute the selected VR works.

“This year, we are very excited to announce that we’ll expand the selection from 3DOF to 6DOF VR content, aiming to showcase a wider range of talented works to a global audience and keep pushing the boundary of immersive storytelling,” Chen continues. “We’ve been working on a scalable solution to distribute 6DOF content for the past year. Our Zerospace VR cinema is now fully ready to showcase 6DOF content, and soon our online platform VeeR is going to support 6DOF as well. I cannot wait to see the immersive creation this year. Together with Cannes XR, we’ll keep supporting immersive storytellers and bringing their works to a wider market.”

Submissions for VeeR VR Cinema end on 23rd April. Cannes XR runs from 6th – 15th July 2021. As further updates are released, VRFocus will let you know.