French Immersion

Overview

French Immersion is a program initiated by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and developed to support emerging and innovative French creators.

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and FACE Foundation, in partnership with UniFrance, the Institut Français, the CNC, with support from Florence Gould Foundation and Air France, launched this program in 2018 to support producers and creators of VR projects and immersive experiences including 360 videos, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR or XR), video games, location-based VR projects and art projects involving new technologies.

French Immersion brings French creators or producers to the US on the occasion of a screening or presentation of their work during a significant festival or program identified by the Cultural Services team.

French immersion supports immersive experiences made with digital and interactive tools:

• Virtual Reality (VR)
• 360 videos
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Mixed Reality (MR)
• Video games
• Location-based VR projects
• Immersive art projects involving new technologies

Special Call for Projects

Two Exceptional Grants in Response to COVID-19

The cancellation of on-site American festivals questions promotion and distribution models for immersive works (XR). In this context, investing more on the distribution of XR works on platforms and their online promotion is a way to adapt and to continue sharing high quality French immersive experiences.

In response to COVID-19, French Immersion launches two exceptional grants to support French producers and broadcasters. The purpose of these grants is to support the online distribution of French immersive works to the American public:

• A grant for the production of promotional videos (5 grants of $ 2,000) to be broadcasted on VR platforms (Oculus, Steam…) and / or on social networks;

• A grant to promote an immersive experience on social networks or on content platforms (10 grants of $ 1,000) to cover costs such as paid-posts, influencers.

The applications may concern works and experiences of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), 360° videos.
Particular attention will be paid to the originality of the online promotion and distribution strategy.

Application Deadline: September 7, 2020.
To find out more on the grants and submit an application:

Grant for the production of promotional videos:
https://forms.gle/wQdTtLWa9jtwU8x49

Grant for promotion on social networks or on content platforms:
https://forms.gle/NoZy6rAHGDCstvo96

French Immersion also launched FR // XR, an initiative that aims at analyzing major COVID-19 induced changes on the XR market. It will gather views from content creators, buyers and distributors, as well as paving the way towards a new business model for the immersive industry.

Contact

Camille Jeanjean
Camille.Jeanjean@villa-albertine.org