Panel: A New Art Form: Creating and Distributing Immersive Works

The Immersive Competition at the Cannes Film Festival recognizes immersive works as an entirely new art form. However, each new medium draws on methods and techniques from its predecessor before evolving its distinct characteristics and narrative language. In this panel, we speak with individuals behind the works in the Immersive Competition to explore similarities and differences between filmmaking and immersive storytelling. We also learn about the speaker’s backgrounds, why they are exploring immersive storytelling with emerging technology, the various tools they are using, the challenges they face, the unique affordances of immersive storytelling, and behind-the-scenes insights into the creative process.

It’s also no secret that distribution is a major challenge for immersive works, just like cinema before a network and infrastructure were created to distribute and commercialise films in cinemas worldwide, giving birth to the film industry we know today. Now, immersive art forms are going through the same growing pains. During this session, we’ll dive deep into the challenges and opportunities to discover where we are on the timeline of maturity of the medium and what may come next, exploring the commercial intentions of the works, distribution examples, setup requirements and the pathway towards reaching the public eye. 

Moderator: Anne McKinnon, Immersive Competition Publicist & CEO of Ristband

Speakers: 

• Jeanne Marchalot, Head of FranceTV StoryLab, co-producer MAYA: THE BIRTH OF A SUPERHERO
• Dorotea Saykaly, Choreographer & Performer, TELOS I
• Adrien Mondot, co-artistic director, En amour
• Mathieu Pradat, Author and Director, The Roaming
• Guillaume Brunet, Orange, co-producer EVOLVER