Venice recently concluded and we spent a week going again practically on various projects.
This year marks the XR-focused segment of the Venice International Film Festival, and after attending in 2023 and 2024, I have been visiting Lazarete Vecchio for the third year. Featuring nearly 70 projects from 27 countries, only 30 projects competed for awards.
Many of these projects usually don’t see home releases. It often accommodates festival-based or location-based experiences. I’d like to see that change for future accessibility, but I’m happy to see Venice hosting the world of VRChat once again. Together, these stages continue to provide a platform for creators to find their feet beyond immersive art and entertainment.
This year’s event had an extension of my personal situation, which unfortunately meant I wasn’t able to try as much as I normally would. Still, I have seen a lot of broader projects. That said, there’s everything I saw in Venice Immersive 2025.
My festival began with Asteroid, a 180° short film that will be released later this year along with Samsung’s Android XR headset. Starring Ron Perlman, Haley Steinfeld, Leon Mandel and NFL player DK Metcalf, the story puts everything at stake by a group of strangers flying old rockets and mining near Earth asteroids for unreleased wealth.
Divide this experience between three different sections and the actual film segment is the best part. It’s a familiar story of the corrupt power of greed, Steinfeld delivers a great performance, and the rest of the cast really doesn’t have time to shine. Unfortunately, interactive segments are hampered by segments using the generated AI version of DK MetCalf where the sound is not working. I’ll soon be talking about that.
Face Jump is my personal highlight of the day and offers a surreal VR adventure that puts you in the position of others using eye tracking in Quest Pro. It’s a one-trick pony that lasts around 25 minutes, but it’s one of the better uses we’ve seen for eye tracking across all kinds of VR experiences. My complete thoughts are below:
Face Jump offers Surrealist Eye Tracking in Quest Pro
Face Jump is a surreal VR adventure that puts you in the position of others, very literally, via eye tracking.
In 1968, we presented a sitting community VR experience focused on the power of protest, but we feel the executions are scattered. It didn’t go anywhere, but I originally thought it was a potential highlight, but I realized I was disappointed. Empathic creatures are about caring for birds in different environments, offering some colorful visuals and nice interactions, but not many others.
The next day, we provided some powerful experiences. Each one sticks to me for a variety of reasons. Blur was probably my most memorable experience, but purely because of how surreal a certain aspect is. The room’s view experience, which also featured other participants with live actors, is a strange journey into the ethics of cloning.
As a fan of Formula 1 after Ferrari, the black cat and checkered flags were my highlights of the day. This is an interactive VR and MR experience focused on 1952 and 1953 championship winner Alberto Ascari. It is a very short homage to Italy’s most successful Formula 1 driver and his life, and while we miss some important details, there is a considerable heart to this story that softens some rough edges.
Mixed reality mini-games that run 50’s style pit stops are also quite fun.
Black cat and checkered flag celebrate one of F1’s early champions
Black Cats & Checkered Flags celebrates Alberto Ascari, one of the early champions of Formula 1, and is experiencing mixed reality with VR.
My day ended with an alien perspective. This explores the legacy of Italian special effects artist Carlo Lambardi, a three-time Academy Award winner who worked in King Kong (1976), Alien, ET, and more. Co-directed by granddaughters Christina Lambardi and John Are Sue, this transforms his painting, Sitta Spasiare 2, into an immersive world. I was immediately drawn to this idea.
After I returned to immersive Venice, this started out of nowhere. As climate change is becoming a constant threat to our future, this 10-minute experience focuses on the story of Anna, a resident of Halein near the Austrian Alps. This highlights the challenges posed by an increasingly unpredictable climate focused on the devastating European floods of 2021.
Similarly, Enlightenment is the reflection of Little Red Dot by Chloelie, a mixed reality experience exploring time, memories, diaspora and place in Singapore through “intimate conversations” and personal stories filmed in 2015.
One thing I particularly liked about this experience was the use of props. Using a Faux film projector, slot one of eight cards and these stories unfold on the digital table in front of you. I’ve come across some positioning issues so this isn’t always the smoothest execution, but it’s pretty much not to interfere with the deep, personal look of the country.
Little Red Dot’s Reflection explores Singapore’s history through mixed reality
Little Red Dot Reflection uses mixed reality to explore how rapid urban development in Singapore has affected communities.
My next appointment is what I consider to be my highlight of immersive 2025 in Venice. The cloud is 2000 meters. It focuses on Guan, who finds his wife’s unfinished novel after her sudden death. Suffering with grief and regret, he sets out on a journey to investigate the endangered cloudy leopards and Lukai tribes and complete her work.
Not only does it offer a fascinating story focusing on love and loss mixed with Indigenous mythology, it is also a highly distinctive approach to VR filmmaking, which exceeds the 180° and 360° videos we often see. You can explore these scenes in full and catch subtle details that you might otherwise miss, but it cannot affect the action each character takes. If there are any you’re hoping to get a home release, this is it.
The clouds are above 2000 meters, and I feel like I’m walking to a movie
The clouds are above 2000 meters, adapting Taiwanese short stories to a free roaming VR experience.
Finishing my last day in Venice Immersive is four different projects, and I left my way from a very emotional long goodbye. It focuses on the life of Ida, a 72-year-old pianist with dementia, interacting with tape recordings and memories. This handles the subject matter quite delicately, brought to life by some gorgeous visuals. I can agree to this to receive the Venice Achievement Award.
After that, there is Mulan 2125. This is a lesson that researches what to try before booking an appointment. One of the few Apple Vision Pro experiences in Venice immersive, this 180° 3D animated film over-objectives female characters and makes strange design choices that make it really bothersome to watch. That’s not helped by the black borders that are clearly visible whenever I look at the left or right. I finished the session early.
I quickly moved on to my first virtual suit. This is a fascinating journey of self-discovery focused on how to project yourself through digital avatars looking at communities such as Vrchat and Resonite. Finally, there was La Maggie Opera, a room-scale experience that went beyond homage to the opera. A great idea that requires a more modern headset than the Vive Focus 3. Hand tracking feels painfully outdated compared to quests, especially since it does not register finger movements.
Like before, there are a few highlights that I couldn’t fit in. Creation of the World is a poetic exploration of Mk Chiurionis’ work, and Mnemosyne blends VR films and theatres. Ghost Town, Walltown Wonders and Midnight Walk also hold demonstrations. Although the highs were higher for another year, the lows were lower, providing a fun and diverse showcase. I’d love to see where this will go next year.
Venice Immersive 2025 was held from August 27th to September 6th, 2025.
