The French-based and international XR event is coming soon! Recognized for the strength of its professional market within the immersive cultural and creative industry, NewImages Festival team has a few new faces but stays true to its strategy and vision, continuing to support the creation of projects (XR Development Market) as well as their distribution (XR Art Fair) for its 6th edition. We met with its new Head of XR Market, Ellen Kuo.
Cover: THE TIME OF A MOMENT by Kate Voet and Victor Maes
Two markets to address XR distribution
Ellen Kuo – This year, we are once again offering two special events for XR professionals with the XR Development Market and the second edition of the XR Art Fair. I have taken over the organisation with Manon Blot of these two programs with an aim to respond to the issues of such a growing immersive creative industry, and to multiply the opportunities between producers, distributors and venues. On this “last mile” to be identified together, and which is the subject of many discussions, there are today real B2B or B2C opportunities.
E. K. – In 2023, we received a few more projects than last year (+100). We are coming out of two difficult post-Covid years, but that might give creators the time to rethink and propose new projects. The outcome is a wave of new and emerging projects, which benefits us. From these applications, we have selected 44 projects (more than 50% are from new creators) that will be present during NewImages Festival for one-to-one meetings and more collective moments of exchange. I really want to thank the creators and producers who have put their trust in us, in this 2023 edition, which marks our true return to 100% physical exhibition in Paris.
E. K. – On the XR Art Fair side, more than 25 studios and companies will present their respective line-ups – that is to say +100 immersive projects of all kinds. We are, to a certain extent, a very diverse market, which can interest public cultural institutions or private investors, coming from heritage, culture, video games… And of course specialists of cultural centers from all over the world, who are already committed to the immersive industry. One of the strengths of the NewImages Festival is that it can bring together a good part of the French ecosystem of cultural and creative industries and connect it to the world.
NewImages Festival: 3 ideas to develop the Markets
E. K. – I will summarise our approach in three major points. First of all, our action tends to support the creation, the creators and the studios behind them. They are the ones who set the pace of the XR industry through initiating and building their immersive experiences: without these projects, there would be no content markets! We are fortunate to navigate in a very connected industry, and our coverage is truly global. Asia, Latin America, Africa… This year I noticed a great presence from Israel, and a real desire from this country to be better represented in the XR industry.
E. K. – Secondly, I want to make our geographical location attractive again. Paris remains Paris! 25% of the selected projects are French, co-production opportunities with France are omnipresent… The XR Market remains an essential place-to-be for non-European creators to meet with their future French and/or European co-production partners.
E. K. – Finally, we understood the need for training before the festival. We offer pitch preparation sessions, co-production and co-financing, and distribution. It is relevant that the time spent on the XR Market is used to the maximum, and that is why we feel it is indispensable essential to propose a bootcamp as an introduction, and not theoretical sessions, with the participation of Laetitia Bochud from XR4Europe or Sönke Kirchholf, François Klein and Nir Sa’ar to talk about co-production, and Jimmy Cheng and Cyril Gautier (Da Prod) to talk about distribution. Sharing our professional experiences is key to moving further together in the ecosystem. In this sense, we also propose a workshop for our decision makers who will be able to meet XR experts during the festival.
XR DEVELOPMENT MARKET
- Amazon Gold
- Animals talk
- Atmosphere
- Breathe
- Broom
- Cave
- Collateral Echoes
- Confident
- Ecosystems
- Ed n’Robot Augmented II
- Eddie and I
- El Cholaverso
- EVE 3.0
- Father’s Video Tapes
- Flower Queans
- Gay Simulator
- In The Eyes Of The Beholding Goat
- Limbophobia
- Masquerade. Chapter 1: Pillaro’s Devil Dance
- Memories of the Waves
- Murder In The Estate
- Normandie
- OKUS FOKUS Immersive
- Radio Luxembourg
- Red Tent
- Remembrance
- Roussel’s Music Box
- Semantica
- Signs of Violence
- Slipstreaming
- Synchronous Senses
- The EYE & I
- The Horde of Counterwind
- The Insider
- The Island of Shells
- The Judgement
- The MetaMovie Presents: Alien Rescue
- The Pond
- The Stories We Keep
- The Time of a Moment
- Through Time : The Butler Legacy
- Vacuum
- Virtual Kiss
- Volver a Casa: Madre
A unique event in the XR industry?
E. K. – We are aware of our role in the industry, and we want to maintain a supportive role in the development of the works. That’s why our dedicated B2B event is as much a pressure to contain as it is a pleasure to keep going in this direction. The choice to focus on distribution issues – which continues during our Industry Days and its conferences – is essential. We still need to understand many parameters in how to distribute XR experiences, and this will be a great discussion including the Kaohsiung VR Film Lab in Taiwan (permanent VR Cinema since 2017), or Dreamscape Immersive (Switzerland and USA) and its network of venues, we will explore many models that already exist and are developing, and Fabien Barati of Emissive (ÉTERNELLE NOTRE-DAME).
E. K. – XR is still a young ecosystem, and trying to identify the levers for its development comes down to the chicken and egg problem. From a technological point of view, we are making giant steps forward every year and the possibilities seem endless. On the content side, it’s an annual debate during the programming of NewImages Festival: how to present the best content, the best creators? It is also particularly rich, but above all very diverse. The XR brings together several families, and we must manage to combine all these creations – which is the problem of all our sections, from the XR Competition to the Markets, to the conferences. We always manage to find a critical balance in our programming to showcase the industry as it exists – including bringing together technology decision makers.
A very solid 2023 edition
E. K. – I cannot comment on the intrinsic quality of the projects, because we do not base our selection on purely qualitative criteria. But we do include evaluation criteria about the feasibility of the works, their financial set-up (not the amounts per se), the distribution potential… We need to understand whether each project, as a whole, is homogeneous in its presentation and has a certain solidity. It has to be as convincing as possible for the decision makers!
E. K. – Two of the strong currents of these last months are the impact projects, and also the projects dedicated to LGBTQ+ issues. We can see the use of XR storytelling for these subjects becoming real evidence, navigating between very strong stories and desires to speak to the public with often interactive proposals.
E. K. – We have selected creators already identified within the XR community, but I am also amazed by receiving so many proposals from new creators. I would like to point out that NewImages Festival now has a real support network with several European content markets such as the European Creator’s Lab, CPH:LAB, IMPULSE supported by Stereopsia, VRDays Europe and IFFR Pro, to name a few. Upon their recommendation, selected projects attend XR Market in Paris, and contribute to the consolidation of the first phases of creation. We are glad to launch some works that way!
