Following a 2026 edition defined by its move to the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, and as it approaches its tenth anniversary, NewImages is entering a new stage of its development. The festival remains the project’s centre of gravity, but around this flagship event an independent organisation is now taking shape, able to operate more broadly throughout the year: project support, residencies, international circulation, audience engagement, professional development and distribution.
With its tenth edition scheduled for 20–25 April 2027, and calls for projects now open, the challenge is not to reinvent NewImages but to consolidate what it can offer independent immersive creation before and after the Paris event. Sarah Arnaud, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Production, has observed this shift from the inside, after a first year spent rebuilding the event in a new setting and laying the foundations of this new organisation.
Cover: the Panorama section @ NewImages 2026
2026: a transition that became a starting point
The 2026 edition marked a genuine operational leap. NewImages was leaving the Forum des images, its home since 2018, and setting up its own association led by Michèle Ziegler, who assembled a new team and had to rebuild the festival’s financial and logistical operations while maintaining the standards developed over previous editions.
The collaboration with Universcience and the move to the Cité des sciences made this continuity possible without losing much of the professional network or long-standing partners. As Sarah Arnaud acknowledges, the priority was first to relocate the event without it feeling like a transitional edition. This first step also served as a full-scale test. Producing the festival straight away in its new environment allowed the team to identify the constraints of the venue, its own needs and the adjustments required. Rather than taking a year off, NewImages chose to put its new model to the test of reality.
“The proof of concept is done,” Sarah Arnaud sums up. The team now has concrete hands-on experience to prepare for 2027 and begin evolving some of its programmes. Independence matters above all beyond the organisation of the festival itself. The new association allows NewImages to carry out its mission all year round, driven by a central ambition: to promote independent immersive creation in France and internationally, and to multiply opportunities to connect with both professionals and audiences.
The festival nonetheless remains the flagship. In 2027 it will return to the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie for five days of programming, extended at the Carrefour numérique² until 30 April. The Industry Days will take place from 20 to 23 April at the Centre des Congrès de la Villette.
A market refining its role
This consolidation extends to the professional programme. NewImages is keeping its XR Development Market, one of the event’s most important tools for the sector, strengthened since 2026 by the arrival of Federico Anselmi as Head of Industry and Talent Programmes. The market welcomes projects at different stages of development and remains a gateway for independent artists, emerging producers and teams not yet well connected to international circuits. For Michèle Ziegler and her team, this function must not disappear. NewImages intends to keep occupying this upstream position, where some fifty projects can still find partners, funding and expertise before moving on to other markets and festivals.
The main change comes further down the chain. The XR Distribution Market is giving way to an Immersive Art Fair, built around some twenty selected, completed works. The aim is to better address the distribution challenges faced by independent immersive works. Rather than replicating a catalogue-based market model, NewImages wants to put the work itself back at the heart of the encounter. Projects will have small spaces allowing buyers, curators, cultural venues and institutions to better grasp how each piece works, its scale and its exhibition requirements. The idea is not to rebuild complete installations, but to provide enough material for them to envisage a future presentation.
The goal is a clearer pathway: first supporting projects in development, then helping completed works find new opportunities for exhibition, acquisition or distribution.
Another new feature, the Talent Fair, will extend this structuring approach: a session dedicated to talent and recruitment on the final day of the market. Behind a format close to job dating, NewImages aims to meet very concrete needs in the sector by connecting studios and producers with developers, sound designers and technical profiles with specific skills. The initiative should also help young professionals enter the ecosystem. Finally, the Industry Days are opening up further to the community. For the first time, an open call invites proposals for talks and professional sessions. After an editorial selection, several proposals will be put to a vote before being included in the final programme.
Taking NewImages beyond Paris
Year-round activity also takes shape through NewImages OnTour, which brings together projects developed outside France around the festival’s programming and expertise, led in particular by Guillaume Décory, Head of Audiences and Cultural Programming. A first pilot with TUMO took place in Portugal in September. Several immersive works were presented to teenagers, accompanied by introductions and workshops to help them understand the formats, but also learn how to watch and discuss them.
The project is set to expand in 2027. NewImages plans to host representatives from several TUMO centres in Paris, introduce them to the festival’s selection and then support them in building a programme that can in turn travel to their own regions. This approach is meant to gradually combine discovery of the works, curation, audience engagement and workshops around practices such as 3D creation, 360 storyboarding and spatial sound.
Another edition of NewImages OnTour is being prepared in Fortaleza, Brazil, with the Museu da Imagem e do Som, from 19 to 22 November 2026. The model is different: a collaboration closer to a local edition, built with the partner on the ground and tailored to its audience. NewImages already sees this relationship as a long-term one.
Residencies are part of the same strategy. TUMO in Armenia, Villa Médicis, collaborations with Western Canada and Latin America: these partnerships aim to help creators develop their projects while connecting them to other ecosystems. In 2026, seven artists joined TUMO Armenia to work on their pieces and run workshops for the young people there.
In Paris, the team is also beginning an eight-month incubation at CENTQUATRE-PARIS, another way of strengthening its roots in the local creative ecosystem. As it nears its tenth anniversary, NewImages is not moving away from its festival. On the contrary, it is making it the foundation of a more structured organisation, able to extend its support and networking work throughout the year.
