Big news from the film festival circuit. This year, Cannes has officially embraced the virtual reality world with an Immersive Competition featuring five virtual reality entries and four non-competition VR entries.   

Thierry Frémaux, the festival director, summed it up perfectly: “Cannes has always been at the forefront of artistic expression. Embracing VR allows us to explore new dimensions of storytelling, making the festival more inclusive and dynamic.”

VR storytelling, a trend steadily gaining momentum, is now a prominent feature at film festivals like Venice, Tribeca, and Cannes. However, the potential of these experiences is often limited by their distribution. Many of these immersive narratives, deserving of a wider audience, are confined to the festival circuit and a few popup events, a situation that needs to change.

Encouragingly, at the recent VR Arcade Game Conference in Las Vegas, 57% of the operators polled expressed their openness to non-gaming VR experiences. This indicates a growing demand for diverse VR content and raises hopes for the wider distribution of these groundbreaking experiences beyond the festival circuit. If you’re interested in getting involved in building the ecosystem for storytelling in VR, let me know.