The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for the 2025 Venice Immersive section, showcasing the cutting edge of VR and immersive cinema.
Venice Immersive will present 69 projects from 27 countries, 30 of them in competition.
Among the highlights of this year’s selection are Submerged, a new immersive film from Conclave director Edward Berger for Apple; Asteroid, a VR project from Edge of Tomorrow director and VR enthusiast Doug Liman; Charlotte Mikkelberg’s Adventure: Ice Dive for Apple; Agnès Molia’s Dance Dance Dance – Matisse, an immersive, dance-led trip through Henri Matisse’s most iconic works; and La Magie Opéra, a VR exploration of the Palais Garnier by Jonathan Astruc. Also featured are The Exploding Girl VR by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, which premiered earlier this year in Cannes’ immersive competition, and Blur, a mixed-reality theatre experience from Craig Quintero and Phoebe Greenberg that debuted at Montreal’s PHI Centre.
Venice was the first A-list festival to launch a VR competition, debuting the section in 2017, and Venice Immersive remains the leading international platform for immersive and XR works.
The 2025 international jury will be headed by Eliza McNitt, the Emmy-nominated director of Spheres and the Darren Aronofsky executive-produced Ancestra. Joining her are Gwenael François, co-founder of Luxembourg’s Skill Lab and winner of the 2024 Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize for Oto’s Planet, and French animator and installation artist Boris Labbé, whose VR debut Ito Meikyū won the Venice Immersive Grand Prize in 2024.
The jury will award three prizes: the Venice Immersive Grand Prize, the Special Jury Prize, and the Achievement Prize.
The Exploding Girl
Venice Immersive
Other titles in competition include La Triste Histoire de la Petite Souris, Creation of the Worlds, 8PM and the Cat, Mulan2125, If You See a Cat, and Mirage, which incorporates haptics. A full list of selected projects spans virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and immersive installations from over 18 countries.
Venice Immersive will run Aug. 27-Sept. 6, parallel to the Venice festival.
Check out the full Venice VR Immersive lineup below.
COMPETITION
La magie opéra, by Jonathan Astruc, France / 25’ / installation, virtual reality
1968, by Rose Bond, USA / 9’ / installation, virtual reality
La triste histoire de la petite souris qui voulait absolument devenir quelqu’un (The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody), by Nicolas Bourniquel, France, Germany, Belgium / 30’ / virtual reality
Creation of the Worlds, by Kristina Buožytė, Vitalijus Žukas, Lithuania / 28’ / virtual reality
Face Jumping, by Danny Cannizzaro, Samantha Gorman, USA / 25’ / virtual reality
Jeonyeok 8si wa Goyangi (8pm and the Cat), by Minhyuk Che, South Korea / 14’ / virtual reality
The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up, by Singing Chen, Taipei, Germany / 50’ / installation, virtual reality
Dark Rooms, by Mads Damsbo, Anne Sofie Steen Sverdrup, Denmark, Germany, Taipei / 35’ / installation, virtual reality
The Great Orator, by Daniel Ernst, The Netherlands / 40’ / virtual reality
Heartbeat – Son Cœur a Trouvé sa Cadence dans le Silence des Rencontres, by Fanny Fortage, France / 10’ / immersive installation
The Big Cube, by Menghui Huang, Finland, Belgium, China, Portugal / 7’ / virtual reality
Mirage, by Naima Karim, Aleena Hanif, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK / 8’ / virtual reality, haptics
Reflections of Little Red Dot, by Chloé Lee, Germany, USA / 40’ / installation, mixed reality
L’ombre (The Shadow), by Blanca Li, Edith Canat de Chizy, France, Taipei / 60’ / installation, mixed reality, live performance
Asteroid, by Doug Liman, USA, Canada / 30’ / installation, virtual reality
The Time Before, by Leo Metcalf, Michael Golembewski, UK / 15’ / virtual reality
Danse Danse Danse – Matisse (Dance Dance Dance – Matisse), by Agnès Molia, Gordon, France / 10’ / virtual reality
Less Than 5gr of Saffron, by Négar Motevalymeidanshah, France / 7’ / virtual reality
Empathy Creatures, by Mélodie Mousset, Switzerland / 10’ / installation, virtual reality
La Fille qui Explose VR (The Exploding Girl VR), by Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France / 20’ / virtual reality
Blur, by Craig Quintero, Phoebe Greenberg, Canada, Taipei / 50’ / installation, virtual reality, live performance
Black Cats & Chequered Flags, by Elisabetta Rotolo, Siobhan McDonnell, Italy / 20’ / installation, mixed reality, virtual reality
Eddie and I, by Maya Shekel, Israel, Germany, France / 25’ / virtual reality
Collective Body, by Sarah Silverblatt‑Buser, France, USA / 20’ / installation, virtual reality
Alien Perspective, by Jung Ah Suh, Cristina Rambaldi, USA, Italy / 15’ / installation, virtual reality
The Great Escape, by Joren Vandenbroucke, Belgium, Luxembourg / 20’ / virtual reality
A Long Goodbye, by Kate Voet, Victor Maes, Belgium / 35’ / installation, virtual reality
If You See a Cat, by Atsushi Wada, Japan / 37’ / virtual reality
Mulan2125, by Mo Huang, China / 56’ / virtual reality
Sense of Nowhere, by Hsin‑Hsuan Yeh, Taipei, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, France / 30’ / virtual reality Submerged, by Edward Berger for Apple, USA/ 17’ / immersive film
Adventure: Ice Dive, by Charlotte Mikkelborg for Apple and Atlantic Studios, USA, Iceland / 15’ / immersive film
OUT OF COMPETITION
Best of Experiences
Wall Town Wonders, by Ives Agemans, Belgium / 30’ / mixed reality
One True Path, Part 1, by Balthazar Auxietre, France / 90’ / virtual reality
Submerged, by Apple, USA / 17’ / immersive film
Ghost Town, by Fireproof Games, UK / 300’ / virtual reality
Adventure: Ice Dive, by Apple and Atlantic Studios, USA, Iceland / 15’ / immersive film
Ancestors, by Steye Hallema, The Netherlands / 70’ / immersive installation
Lili, by Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, USA / 30’ / immersive installation
On the Other Earth, by Wayne McGregor, UK / 50’ / immersive installation, mixed reality
The Midnight Walk, by Olov Redmalm, Klaus Lyngeled, Sweden, Brazil, India / 360’ / virtual reality
D‑Day: The Camera Soldier, by Chloé Rochereuil, France, USA / 22’ / virtual reality
Constantinopoliad, by Sister Sylvester, Nadah El Shazly, UK, Greece / 55’ / immersive installation
Best of Worlds
Natura’s Queendom, by Anders Fray, Starheart
Cyberlove ｜ A7, by Artsy Glitch
Uncanny Lounge, by Christopher Lane Davis, Rick Treweek
Ritual, by DrMorro
The Colony – Flat 804, by Glory Nya
Exhibition ⁄ Back Seeing, by haruki_haru
What Is Virtual Art – Volume 1, by Jessien
The Reality of Hope, by Joe Hunting
Neuron, by Juice…
Yorutouge, by mikkabouzu / Kikuo
Flat Earth, by Niko Lang
Experience, by NOOTAU
Powdergame, by Pema Malling
Light Aquarium, by phi16
Break 15˸ Arcanum, by PK / rekluma
Vent., by Premium²
FZMZ Point Zero, by ReeeznD
Scale Journey, by S_Asagiri
Shinonome Balloon, by sakanaplus
Dracula’s Castle, by Tanner White
Mirage, by Tokyo Waiyoz
Neoworlds, by Widget365
Flashing Warning, by xlxxl