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Venice Immersive

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Venice Immersive is the extended reality (XR) section of the Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia. It is held during the festival on Lazzaretto Vecchio, an island in the Venetian lagoon that the Biennale calls the Venice Immersive Island, and it presents a competition and out-of-competition selections of immersive videos, virtual and mixed reality works, virtual worlds and immersive installations.[1]

The section began in 2017 as Venice Virtual Reality (also shortened to Venice VR), which the Biennale describes as the first competition for works in virtual reality at an A-list film festival. As Venice VR Expanded it was made available online in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was renamed Venice Immersive in 2022, when it returned in person to the island.[2][3] The 2026 edition, the section's tenth, presented 68 projects from 26 countries, 30 of them in competition.[2] According to Variety, the competition was launched in 2017 by co-curators Michel Reilhac and Liz Rosenthal.[3]

Reviewed 6 October 2026. Checked dates, selection counts, juries and award winners for every edition 2017-2026 against La Biennale di Venezia pages and the 2026 regulations, plus the cited Variety, Sight and Sound and UploadVR passages. About review dates.

History

Origins (2016)

According to the Biennale, the Venice International Film Festival was one of the first film festivals to take an interest in virtual reality, and the creation of a VR Theatre in 2016 drew strong interest from participants in the Venice Production Bridge, the festival's industry market.[2] Reviewing the 2017 competition for Sight and Sound, Paul O'Callaghan described the 2016 effort as a small showcase headlined by Jesus VR: The Story of Christ.[4] Variety wrote in 2026 that the program "launched in a modest nook between two floors of the Palazzo del Casinò" before it moved to its own island.[5]

Venice Virtual Reality (2017-2019)

The first competition, announced in July 2017, had 22 works in competition, three projects developed at Biennale College Cinema shown out of competition, four earlier works by directors or producers invited to the Venice Gap-Financing Market, and two "Best of VR" titles out of competition, Dear Angelica by Saschka Unseld and Miyubi by Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël.[6] It ran from 31 August to 5 September 2017 in a VR Theater set up on Lazzaretto Vecchio, an island off the lagoon side of the Lido across from the Hotel Excelsior, which the Biennale used with the permission of the Polo Museale Veneziano. Works were shown in three ways: seated viewing in the VR Theater, stand-up viewing (interactive or not) and three-dimensional installations.[7] The official 2017 line-up listed each work's presentation mode, such as "Oculus Stand Up", "Vive Stand Up", "VR Theater" or "Installation".[6]

O'Callaghan reported that the works were exhibited in a partially restored Renaissance-era hospital and leprosarium, reached by a vintage shuttle boat from the Lido. He wrote that the image quality of the Samsung Gear VR headsets used for communal viewing diminished the impact of The Deserted, a 55-minute 360-degree film by Tsai Ming-liang shown in a 50-seat pop-up VR theatre, while in his view the interactive single-user experiences, such as Jordan Tannahill's Draw Me Close: A Memoir, "really shine".[4] The first jury was chaired by film director John Landis.[8]

For the 75th festival in 2018, the Biennale said the island had already become known as the "VR Island". The official selection (competition, Biennale College Cinema - VR and Best Of sections) ran from 30 August to 8 September 2018, and 15 VR projects seeking financing were presented in the Venice Production Bridge. A dedicated VR accreditation for people over 18 cost 50 euros for five days or 15 euros for one day.[9] The Biennale said the 2018 program on the island comprised 40 projects, and it made VR projects presented at that edition available to audiences worldwide on the VRrOOm platform from 8 September to 8 October 2018, through an app for iOS, Android and Google Daydream phones, viewable in a magic window mode or with mobile- or PC-based headsets such as HTC and Oculus models.[10] The 2019 edition ran from 29 August to 7 September with separate interactive and linear competition strands, a Biennale College Cinema - VR section and a "Best of VR" section out of competition.[11][12]

Venice VR Expanded (2020-2021)

In 2020 the section was not held on the island. It was renamed Venice VR Expanded to reflect a move to a fully virtual exhibition on a platform designed by VRrOOm and supported by HTC Viveport, Facebook's Oculus and VRChat, open from 2 to 12 September 2020.[13] The selection had 44 projects from 24 countries: 31 in competition, nine "Best of VR" titles and four Biennale College Cinema - VR projects.[14] Viewers over 14 could watch 23 competition projects and the full Best of VR and Biennale College sections free. A 100 euro VR accreditation added six competition projects on Oculus, three performance-based works by reservation, events and panels in a VRChat space, and "Meet the Creator" sessions moderated by Reilhac and Rosenthal. Partner institutions also opened Venice VR Expanded lounges in a satellite program, among them the PHI Center in Montreal, the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, the Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen and the M9 museum in Venice Mestre.[13] The jury was chaired by Céline Tricart, who had won the 2019 Grand Jury Prize for The Key, and included film director Asif Kapadia and video game designer Hideo Kojima.[14][3]

The 2021 edition (1 to 11 September 2021) was a hybrid. Accredited festival guests could see the selection in a VR Gallery on the second floor of the Palazzo del Casinò on the Lido, or online through HTC Viveport, the Oculus Store and VRChat, and the public could see it at 14 satellite venues around the world. The 37-project selection came from 23 countries, and a gallery of 34 VRChat worlds was shown, which the Biennale said was the first time VRChat worlds had appeared in a festival selection.[15]

Venice Immersive (2022-present)

For the 79th festival (31 August to 10 September 2022) the section took its current name, which the Biennale said was meant to acknowledge "the growth of immersive media beyond the technologies of Virtual Reality" and to cover all forms of XR, including 360-degree videos, installations, live performances and virtual worlds. It returned in person to Lazzaretto Vecchio, now called the Venice Immersive Island, with 44 projects from 19 countries and a Worlds Gallery of 30 virtual worlds visited through curated world-hop tours in VRChat.[16] From 2023 the jury's three awards have been the Grand Prize, the Special Jury Prize and the Achievement Prize.[17] The VRChat worlds became a "Best of Worlds" strand of the out-of-competition selection by 2024, when the section was held with VRChat's support.[18] UploadVR reported in October 2024 that the 2024 event's VRChat hub world, which houses portals to the featured worlds, remained open to visitors after the festival.[19]

The 2026 edition marked the section's tenth anniversary. In Variety, Reilhac said the organizers were "not planning any retrospectives" and wanted to focus "on what's happening next", while Rosenthal said that "the location-based entertainment (LBE) model now drives the market".[5] Variety reported that the competition included two works built for the Xreal Aura glasses, Andy Serkis's Nevatars and Galápagos: The Last Eden, hosted by Margot Robbie, and that the festival partnered with Agog, an XR institute co-founded by Wendy Schmidt, on a four-day drop-in area where visitors could try the hardware.[5]

Format and organization

Venice Immersive is one of the sections of the official selection of the Venice International Film Festival. Under the 2026 regulations, it presents in competition a maximum of 30 immersive projects as world or international premieres, and any length of immersive video, VR, MR, AR or XR work is eligible, including installations and virtual worlds. Out of competition, a "Best of Immersive" section shows up to 10 works by invitation that were released or premiered elsewhere since the previous festival, plus up to 35 online virtual worlds; works developed in the Biennale College Cinema - Immersive program are also shown out of competition.[20] The accepted formats for 2026 were:[20]

Category Formats listed in the 2026 regulations
Immersive videos 180, 360, Meta and Apple Immersive Video, and others
VR Standalone VR and PCVR
Virtual worlds Built on existing platforms
XR installations VR, MR, AR and custom XR
Immersive installations Projection mapping, audio-based, haptic and multisensory performances, and others

A jury of three people from different countries awards the Venice Immersive Grand Prize, the Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize and the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize; joint awards are not allowed.[20] Competition works may have been shown publicly only in their country of origin, and the 2026 submission deadline for immersive projects was 7 May.[20]

In 2026 the program ran every day from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, by reservation only, and the island was linked to Riva di Corinto on the Lido by a free shuttle boat; the Biennale gave the crossing time as about three minutes. All festival accreditation holders can attend, and people over 18 can buy a separate Venice Immersive accreditation, which in 2026 cost 40 euros for two days, 60 euros for five days and 100 euros for 11 days.[1] Venice Immersive is linked to the festival's industry market: the 2026 Venice Production Bridge included the Venice Immersive Market, addressed to the XR, VR and AR market, from 3 to 9 September 2026.[20] The Biennale College Cinema - Immersive program (called Biennale College Cinema - VR in earlier editions) supports new projects through a grant and an international workshop; its tenth edition was in 2025-2026.[11][2][20]

Works at the section use a wide range of hardware. In its report on the 2025 edition, UploadVR described Asteroid, a 180-degree film that it said would launch alongside Samsung's Android XR headset; Face Jumping, which used eye tracking on the Meta Quest Pro; Mulan 2125, one of the few Apple Vision Pro works; and La Magie Opéra, a room-scale work shown on the HTC Vive Focus 3. The same report described the Grand Prize winner The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up as a free-roaming VR adaptation of a Taiwanese short story.[21]

Notable editions or selections

Editions

Dates are those of the VR or immersive section. The number of competition works is the figure stated in the jury's award announcement, except for 2017, where it comes from the line-up announcement.

Year Festival Section name Dates Format Works in competition Total selection
2017 74th Venice Virtual Reality 31 August - 5 September Lazzaretto Vecchio 22[6] 31 listed in the line-up, including out-of-competition works[6]
2018 75th Venice Virtual Reality 30 August - 8 September[9] Lazzaretto Vecchio, plus online on VRrOOm until 8 October Not stated 40 projects[10]
2019 76th Venice Virtual Reality 29 August - 7 September[11] Lazzaretto Vecchio 27[22] Not stated
2020 77th Venice VR Expanded 2-12 September[13] Online, plus satellite venues 31[23] 44 projects from 24 countries[14]
2021 78th Venice VR Expanded 1-11 September[15] Palazzo del Casinò VR Gallery, online and 14 satellite venues 23[24] 37 projects from 23 countries, plus 34 VRChat worlds[15]
2022 79th Venice Immersive 31 August - 10 September[16] Venice Immersive Island 30[25] 44 projects from 19 countries, plus 30 worlds[16]
2023 80th Venice Immersive 30 August - 9 September[26] Venice Immersive Island 28[17] 43 projects from 25 countries, plus 24 worlds[26]
2024 81st Venice Immersive 28 August - 7 September[18] Venice Immersive Island 26[27] 63 projects from 25 countries[18]
2025 82nd Venice Immersive 27 August - 6 September[28] Venice Immersive Island 30[29] 69 projects from 27 countries[28]
2026 83rd Venice Immersive 2-12 September[2] Venice Immersive Island 30[30] 68 projects from 26 countries[2]

Award winners

Prize names changed several times. Under Venice Virtual Reality the awards separated interactive and linear content; Venice VR Expanded used a Grand Jury Prize, an experience prize and a story prize; the 2022 jury gave a Best Experience award, a Grand Jury Prize and a Special Jury Prize; and since 2023 the three prizes have been the Grand Prize, the Special Jury Prize and the Achievement Prize. Awards are listed in the order the Biennale announced them.[8][23][25][17]

Year Jury president First award announced Other awards
2017 John Landis Best VR Award: Arden's Wake (Expanded) by Eugene YK Chung (USA) Best VR Experience Award (interactive content): La Camera Insabbiata by Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang (USA, Taiwan); Best VR Story Award (linear content): Bloodless by Gina Kim (South Korea, USA)[8]
2018 Susanne Bier Best VR Award (immersive story): Spheres by Eliza McNitt (USA, France) Best VR Experience Award (interactive content): Buddy VR by Chuck Chae (South Korea); Best VR Story Award (linear content): L'Île des Morts by Benjamin Nuel (France)[31]
2019 Laurie Anderson Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work: The Key by Céline Tricart (USA) Best VR Immersive Experience for Interactive Content: A Linha by Ricardo Laganaro (Brazil); Best VR Immersive Story for Linear Content: Daughters of Chibok by Joel Kachi Benson (Nigeria)[22]
2020 Céline Tricart Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work: The Hangman at Home - An Immersive Single User Experience by Michelle and Uri Kranot (Denmark, France, Canada) Best VR Immersive User Experience: Finding Pandora X by Kiira Benzing (USA); Best VR Immersive Story: Sha Si Da Ming Xing (Killing a Superstar) by Fan Fan (China)[23]
2021 Michelle Kranot Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Work: Goliath: Playing with Reality by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla (UK, France) Best VR Experience: Le Bal de Paris de Blanca Li by Blanca Li (France, Germany, Luxembourg); Best VR Story: End of Night by David Adler (Denmark, France)[24]
2022 May Abdalla Venice Immersive Best Experience: The Man Who Couldn't Leave by Singing Chen (Taipei) Grand Jury Prize: From the Main Square by Pedro Harres (Germany); Special Jury Prize: Eggscape by German Heller (Argentina)[25]
2023 Singing Chen Grand Prize: Songs for a Passerby by Celine Daemen (Netherlands) Special Jury Prize: Flow by Adriaan Lokman (Netherlands, France); Achievement Prize: Empereur by Marion Burger and Ilan Cohen (France, Germany)[17]
2024 Celine Daemen Grand Prize: Ito Meikyū by Boris Labbé (France, Luxembourg) Special Jury Prize: Oto's Planet by Gwenael François (Luxembourg, Canada, France); Achievement Prize: Impulse: Playing with Reality by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla (United Kingdom, France)[27]
2025 Eliza McNitt Grand Prize: The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up by Singing Chen (Taipei, Germany) Special Jury Prize: Less Than 5gr of Saffron by Négar Motevalymeidanshah (France); Achievement Prize: A Long Goodbye by Kate Voet and Victor Maes (Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands)[29]
2026 Paul Raphaël Grand Prize: The Pigeon Ring by Shixin Tao and Yuqi Zhang (China) Special Jury Prize: Out of the Ashes by Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña (USA); Achievement Prize: Empire at Sea by Peter Flaherty (USA)[30]

Since 2020 every jury has included at least one winner from the previous edition, and the 2022, 2023 and 2024 juries were made up entirely of the previous year's prizewinners.[14][24][25][17][18][28][2] Singing Chen won the Best Experience award in 2022, chaired the 2023 jury and won the Grand Prize in 2025; Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla won the top prize in 2021 and the Achievement Prize in 2024; and Eliza McNitt, who won in 2018 with Spheres, chaired the 2025 jury.[31][24][25][17][27][29] The 2026 jury president, Paul Raphaël, is a co-founder of Felix and Paul Studios; Miyubi, which he co-directed with Félix Lajeunesse, screened out of competition at the first edition in 2017.[2][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Venice Immersive (2 - 12 September 2026)". La Biennale di Venezia. La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2026/venice-immersive-0. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Venice Immersive selection and competition announced". La Biennale di Venezia. 2026-07-15. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/venice-immersive-selection-and-competition-announced-0. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Nick Vivarelli (2020-08-26). "Venice Film Festival Virtual Reality Section Moved Online Will Travel Globally". Variety. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/venice-film-festival-virtual-reality-1234749168/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Paul O'Callaghan (2017-09-12). "Immersion island: virtual reality at the 2017 Venice Film Festival". Sight and Sound. British Film Institute. https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/immersion-island-virtual-reality-2017-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ben Croll (2026-09-04). "Venice Immersive Celebrates 10 Years of XR Evolution and the Growth of Location-Based Entertainment". Variety. https://variety.com/2026/film/news/venice-immersive-10-years-xr-1236849908/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "The films of Venice Virtual Reality Section". La Biennale di Venezia. 2017-07-27. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/films-venice-virtual-reality-section. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  7. ↑ "Venice Virtual Reality at Lazzaretto Vecchio Island". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/venice-vr. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Official Awards of the 74th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2017-09-09. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-74th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Venice Virtual Reality 2018". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2018/venice-vr. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The Venice Virtual Reality section on the multimedia platform VRrOOm". La Biennale di Venezia. 2018-09-08. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/venice-virtual-reality-section-multimedia-platform-vrroom. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Venice Virtual Reality 2019". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2019/venice-vr. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  12. ↑ "Venice Virtual Reality (2019 line-up)". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2019/venice-virtual-reality. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Venice VR Expanded (2 - 12 September 2020)". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2020/venice-vr-expanded-web-section. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 "Selection complete for the works of Venice VR Expanded". La Biennale di Venezia. 2020-07-31. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/selection-complete-works-venice-vr-expanded. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "Venice VR Expanded (1 - 11 September 2021)". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2021/venice-vr-expanded-web-section. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Venice Immersive (31 August - 10 September 2022)". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2022/venice-immersive-0. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 "Official awards of the 80th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2023-09-09. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-80th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "Venice Immersive lineup and Competition announced". La Biennale di Venezia. 2024-07-18. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/venice-immersive-lineup-and-competition-announced. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  19. ↑ Don Hopper (2024-10-08). "Venice Immersive: Visit The Venice International Film Festival In VRChat". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/venice-immersive-vrchat-tour/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 "Regulations, 83rd Venice International Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2026/regulations. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  21. ↑ Henry Stockdale (2025-09-10). "Venice Immersive 2025: Everything We Saw In Italy". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/venice-immersive-2025-everything-we-saw/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Official Awards of the 76th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2019-09-07. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-76th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 "Official Awards of the 77th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2020-09-12. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-77th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 "Official awards of the 78th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2021-09-11. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-78th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 "Official Awards of the 79th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2022-09-10. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-79th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Venice Immersive (30 August - 9 September 2023)". La Biennale di Venezia. https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2023/venice-immersive-0. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 "Official awards of the 81st Venice International Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2024-09-07. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-81st-venice-international-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 "Venice Immersive Selection and Competition announced". La Biennale di Venezia. 2025-07-16. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/venice-immersive-selection-and-competition-announced. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 "Official awards of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2025-09-06. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-82nd-venice-international-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Official awards of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2026-09-12. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-83rd-venice-international-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "Official Awards of the 75th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. 2018-09-08. https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-75th-venice-film-festival. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
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