Cannes XR Virtual is The Marché du Film’s online virtual reality art showcase taking place from June 24 to 26. You can access the exhibit using multiple formats across various platforms.
The virtual exhibit seeks to bring together executives from the traditional filmmaking industry, indie producers, XR artists, tech giants, and investors. Moreover, it seeks to highlight the creative possibilities of immersive technologies.
Museum of Other Realities (MOR) is co-hosting Cannes XR. Tribeca Film Festival, VeeR VR, Positron, and many others will be sharing their content at the three-day event as well.
So, wondering what to expect at the upcoming event?
Let’s jump right in.
The Beginnings of Cannes XR Virtual
We had the opportunity to interview Elie Levasseur, Cannes XR Virtual’s representative, and ask him how the event came to be. In February, they announced the addition of a new venue for XR: a large seaside space with a terrace. Unfortunately, they had to rethink their plans because of the growing threat of the COVID-19 virus.
“Our main issue was ‘how the artworks would be displayed,’ ‘how do you show XR art pieces online.’ That is where the Museum of Other Realities gave us the perfect solution to challenge this idea,” Lavasseur explained.
Guests can access immersive works of art through MOR. There’s no better place to connect, experience, and share virtual art with other enthusiasts. It’s an ideal environment for an event as ambitious as Cannes XR Virtual.
“The pandemic forces us to reinvent our format in a way we never encountered, and in a very short amount of time,” he said. “We are still learning, but what we already know is that it won’t be a one-shot. We want to capitalize on this experience for the next editions.”
Virtual Reality and Immersive Experiences
“Look forward to exploring an amazing virtual space.” That’s what Levasseur said when we asked him what we can expect from the VR event.
“The Museum of Other Realities itself is an art piece, almost a true VR artwork, imagined by some of the most talented VR artists in the world. And for that reason alone, it is worth a visit.”
VeeR, a virtual reality entertainment platform, will be highlighting the VeeR 360 Cinema at the event. Creators can watch immersive films in 360° at the exhibit. Additionally, they will discover the limitless opportunities for storytelling powers with VR.
Cannes XR Virtual will curate the Cannes XR Development Showcase with Kaleidoscope. Overall, it will highlight 23 leading projects. This showcase provides creators with exciting opportunities to explain virtual and augmented reality titles to important decision-makers. The panel of experts consists of producers, curators, and distributors within the XR entertainment space. You can look forward to representatives from Google, Facebook, Intel, HP, Microsoft, and more.
Tribeca will also be debuting XR projects at the exhibit. They selected their 10 projects from the 2020 Tribeca Immersive programming. Some of the items on the line-up include World Premieres, which were set to debut earlier this year before the postponement of the festival’s 19th annual run.
Lastly, there will be a showcase for the Positron Visionary Award. The selected winner will receive a Voyager chair, which is specifically designed for experiencing cinematic VR.
Cannes XR Virtual Formats
You can access immersive artworks at Cannes XR Virtual through various other formats. You can, for example, view 2D live video streams of conferences, project presentations, as well as pitching sessions. Marche du Film Online will stream it on their platform. Moreover, you can stream them on the websites of their partners, including Kaleidoscope and Tribeca Film Festival.
Across the US, as well as in France and China, a network of partner location-based entertainment (LBE) will be giving access to Cannes XR Virtual to journalists and guests without virtual reality headsets.
Virtual reality is evolving rapidly, especially during the pandemic. So we asked Levasseur about his thoughts on the future of immersive tech.
“I am sure it will not take long for VR to emancipate and become a new form of art in itself, with its own language, artists, venues, audiences. Something different that is, for now, hard to imagine,” he said.
Cannes XR Virtual takes place from June 24 to 26. Marche du Film will announce the program on June 10.
