The United States represent a vivid market for festivals and institutions likely to select or program immersive projects and stories.
South by Southwest / SXSW
Austin, Texas – March 13 – 22, 2020
The Virtual Cinema section was created in 2017 and is divided between 360° Video et Room-Scale projects. The French producers we support can also be nominated for the Interactive innovation awards (among them, a VR & AR category and a Visual Media Experience category) or for the Gaming section.
France is visible on SXSW through the French Tech organization, and Business France (Trade Show, French Tech House…)
> French nominations: Notes on Blindness (Innovation Awards in VR & AR category), Out of the Blue (2017) ; Homo Machina (2018) ; -22,7°C, Eclipse, Vectronom, Mechanical Souls (2019)
SXSW Virtual Cinema
SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards
SXSW Gaming
Sundance New Frontier
Park City, Utah – January 23 – February 2, 2020
The New Frontier selection has been created in 2007 and focuses on fiction or non-fiction projects: multimedia installations, transmedia narrations, virtual reality experiences, performances or movies.
> French selections: Notes on Blindness (2016), BattleScar (2018), Mechanical Souls, Gloomy Eyes (2019)
Sundance New Frontier
Tribeca Film Festival
New York, New York – April 15 – 26, 2020
The interactive productions have their own category since 2012 (the Tribeca Storyscapes section) and in 2016 was created a section dedicated to VR (the Virtual Arcade section). Since 2017, the Tribeca Film Festival was also extended to videogames with the Tribeca Games festival.
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy initiated in 2016 a partnership with Storyscapes and the Virtual Arcade (VR-demo event and cocktail at the Embassy during the Festival).
> French selections: Notes on Blindness and Sens (2016) ; Unrest, Alteration and Sergeant James (2017), BattleScar, Firebird The Unfinished, Vestige (2018), Accused No.2 : Walter Sisulu, Ayahuasca, Seven Lives (2019)
Tribeca Film Festival Immersive Section
AFI Festival
Los Angeles, California – October 15 – 22, 2020
AFI FEST’s State of the Art technology showcase and The Tech Showcase provide an engaging forum on innovative new modes of storytelling that spotlight Virtual Reality filmmaking. These programs include a selection of 360-degree, virtual reality, augmented reality and immersive short film experiences representing a cross-section of what’s currently possible in this new cinematic medium.
AFI Fest
Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago, Illinois – October 14 – 25, 2020
Immersive Cinema – Virtual Reality is taking hold as a powerful new method of storytelling—engulfing viewers in worlds and human experiences in unique and transformative ways. Come experience VR for yourself!
Industry Days is the Chicago International Film Festival’s hub for filmmakers and industry professionals to connect, share ideas and inspire each other. Industry Days program will include workshops on financing, distribution, documentary storytelling, and screenwriting; conversations about music and film, women in the industry, and virtual reality; as well as networking events and a competitive pitch session.
> French selections: Vestige (2018), BattleScar (2018)
Chicago International Film Festival – Immersive Cinema
Chicago International Film Festival – Industry Days
Cinequest
San Jose, California – March 3 – 15, 2020
Cinequest Film Festival brings together the Silicon Valley’s technologies and innovation with cinema. Created in 2017 Cinequest VR, the VR section of the festival, represents each year the most established names in VR – including Oculus, Google, Samsung, HTC, Unity, Wevr, Baobab, Penrose – as well as many buzz-worthy up-and-comers.
> French selections: Eclipse (2019)
Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival – Vritual Reality Experience
Filmgate Miami
Miami, Florida – Date to be determined
The only interactive festival in the Southeastern United States was created in 2012 and is held each year.
> Annual partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy
> Last French selections: Notes on Blindness and I, Philip (2017).
Filmgate Miami
Impact Reality Summit
Seattle, Washington
The Impact Reality Summit brings together leading artists and social impact organizations to discover, fund, and support the next wave of XR-for-Good projects. Hosted by Vulcan Productions and Kaleidoscope, the summit took place over two days at Vulcan’s Seattle headquarters on January 9-10. Featuring talks, workshops, and an exhibition of the best in XR for Good, the summit awarded $50,000 in development funding to new projects that harness the power of immersive storytelling to create real-world change.
Impact Reality Summit
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy also supported French creators at Colcoa, the French Film Festival of Los Angeles in California
In 2017 the five projects were I, Philip, Kinoscope, On set- Slack Bay, Out of the Blue, and Sergeant James
Colcoa
FESTIVALS DEDICATED TO DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS
DC Web and Digital Media Festival
Washington, D.C. – April 3 – 4, 2020
DC Web Fest serves to entertain, educate and promote the innovative forms and diverse voices in the new media landscape. From web series to apps to games to VR, new media is celebrated in its ever changing form.
DC Web Fest
Future of Storytelling
Staten Island, New York – June 3 – 4, 2020
This festival was created in 2016 and follows a 2-days professional summit. It programs all kinds of interactive experiences : installations, VR projects, AR projects…
> Annual partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy
> French selections: Notes on Blindness, I, Philip and Sens (2016); Forest, Spoons and Alice (2017).
FoST festival
Games for Change Festival
New York, New York – July 14 – 16, 2020
The Games for Change Festival highlights the groundbreaking work that has been done in the G4C community in the last decade and a half. Explore how VR/AR/MR technologies are offering radical new ways to create social impact. The G4C Festival offers three expertly curated tracks of panels, talks and workshops around emerging sectors in the impact games field : Civic & Social issues ; Games for Learning Summit ; Neurogaming & Health.
> French selections: Bury me, my love (2018)
Games for Change Festival
Gray Area
San Francisco, California
Gray Area is an art center that applies art and technology to create social and civic impact through education, incubation and public events. Their team is currently working on a VR festival to be launched in October 2018, and to which the Cultural Services of the French Embassy are a possible partner.
Gray Area
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Los Angeles, California
In 2017 the LACMA hosted the VR project Carne y Arena by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, (awarded by an Oscar in 2017) as part of the Art + Technology Lab projects (supported by Hyundai Motor).
Carne y Arena – LACMA
LACMA Lab
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Boston, Massachusetts
The MIT hosts artists residencies in its Center for Art, Science and Technology (CAST). The MIT Open Documentary Lab offers residencies too to artists and creative technologists who work on innovative forms of narration in the non-fiction area. For the general public, the MIT Museum produces exhibitions, demos, workshops that are related to MIT research programs.
> Karim Ben Khelifa was a resident at the CAST en 2013-15; his project The Enemy was shown at the MIT Museum between September and December 2017.
MIT Arts
MIT Open Documentary Lab
MIT Museum
Museum of Moving Image (MOMI)
Astoria, Queens, New York
The Museum of Moving Image in Queens produces exhibitions, screenings, educational programs all related to cinema, TV culture and digital culture. In 2015 the MOMI hosted for instance the exhibition « Sensory Stories » presented by the Centre Phi (Montreal) that showed interactive productions and VR projects.
Museum of Moving Image
Twenty-One Twelve (2112)
Chicago, Illinois
2112 is Chicago’s first business incubator focused on the development of entrepreneurs in music, film/video and creative industry-focused technologies. Through community, educational opportunities and access to capital, 2112 creates a truly fertile ground for the professional development and acceleration of its members.
> In 2017 the Cultural Services partnered with 2112 for the French Innovation Week.
2112 Inc
Emma Buttin
Cultural Services of the French Embassy
emma.buttin@frenchculture.org