Paris Immersive Showcase NewImages Builds Bridges With Empathy, Engagement

variety.com:

Ben Croll Running April 24 – 28 at Paris’ Forum des Images, this year’s NewImages Festival will focus on bridge building, looking to foster connection and bolster partnerships between new media creators and legacy institutions. “We really want to bring the XR industry closer to the cultural sector of museums and theaters, really anything that could be a future showcase for immersive works,” festival director Michele Ziegler tells Variety. “While a few distributors now specialize in this, there is still much work to do convincing cultural decision makers to invest in new media.

We have much to mediate and explore.” To that end, Ziegler and her team took a dual track, curating a 15-project competition with an eye toward audience accessibility and a seven-title out-of-competition showcase united around a shared theme of cultural transmission.

Spanning five continents, eight countries and a wealth of immersive approaches, many competition titles traverse memories and dreamscapes, accenting historical weight in the Holocaust doc “Letters From Drancy,” intimate connection in the multi-user experience “Traversing the Mist,” and personal disability in the ash-tinged exploration of aphasia “Emperor.” Meanwhile, titles like “YUKI MRcade Mode,” “The Tent” and “Gargoyle Doyle” find AR/VR experiences imbued with the rogue spirit of independent gaming.

When curating this 15-project competition from 140 submissions, Ziegler and her team focused above all on ease of use – testing out each experience with a selection committee that included several immersive neophytes. “We needed the non-expert point of view,” Ziegler explains. “It was essential have input from people who don’t go to Venice Immersive or to SXSW, because our mission is.