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“Immersive industry grows in contact with traditional cultural institutions” – Stéphane Malagnac (PiXii – Sunny Side of the Doc)

Mathieu Gayet

The PiXii Festival is back this year for another 100% physical edition in La Rochelle. Event dedicated to the documentary creation, PiXii has not failed since the health crisis by offering a program in different places (museums, institutions …) and this year a partnership with the RMN-GP around the exhibition Palais augmenté 2 (in augmented reality, then). Back on the 2022 edition of PiXii with Stéphane Malagnac, its director.

https://www.pixii-larochelle.fr

PiXii, an immersive festival in La Rochelle (France)

Stéphane Malagnac – We realized in 2020 that we were bringing in international cultural operators to discover our projects… but without necessarily soliciting those of the territory. For the 2021 edition, we proposed to them to accompany us, to become a showcase for the PiXii festival, and they immediately responded positively and actively – and this in a context where we were lucky enough to organize a physical edition. Our 2021 interview – “Sunny Side of the Doc has always been an event where new projects are born” – Stéphane Malagnac (PiXii Festival)

S. M. – Based on the principle of a festival in the city, with several venues to host it, the 2021 edition was a public and critical success (on the part of cultural operators, financial backers, communities, producers). It was an opportunity to discover, or rediscover, La Rochelle. And in fact, we saw the doors open rather easily, with curiosity and interest in the innovation carried by the XR and our programming. The 2022 edition, from June 18 to 23, confirms our location, with a change in the list of places selected according to the agendas and possibilities of each, and still on the principle of an event 100% free for visitors.

Locations : Église Saint-Sauveur, Hôtel de Ville, Tour de la Chaîne Centre des Monuments Nationaux,Musée du Nouveau Monde, Museum d’histoire naturelle, Maison Henri 2 Centre Intermondes, Office de tourisme

S. M. – The 2021 edition has taught us a lot. First of all, we were able to open up to the general public, where previously we only talked to professionals. But we have to wake up the immersive “bubble” and go and find real spectators. There is certainly a work of education to continue towards the professionals, but they are now used to see VR headsets in trade shows or next to the conferences they attend. And it’s also a way to prove that it can work, that the public is still moving in cultural institutions and discovering both our programming and visiting the partner places. And it’s perfect in La Rochelle where everything is within walking distance. So we are truly in an innovative cultural and tourist dynamic.

Towards a maturity of the XR in festivals?

S. M. – Maturity comes from cultural institutions. We are starting to see large-scale digital projects coming from existing operators, and this is happening all over France. When PiXii was created in 2017, we couldn’t imagine this. Producing or co-producing a work, gathering a budget for a regional museum, is difficult. But the example of the biggest ones (RMN-GP, etc.) makes us envious, and shows that things are possible. A market dynamic is being set up, and a dialogue between institutions and XR producers.

S. M. – ÉTERNELLE NOTRE-DAME, LADY SAPIENS… These are all examples of collective XR experiences, with a flow of visitors, even if we can see that they are still big machines – financially and technically. However, we can see the influence that this can have on smaller operators, and the possibility of starting to imagine the exploitation of immersive works over a medium or long period of time.

S. M. – At Sunny Side of the Doc, we are very happy to have people from the video game industry like Ubisoft present for several years. It’s not so much the desire to create bridges with video games, but to explore their usefulness for our producers: production of 3D environments, digital assets produced with scientific veracity. And we need it! It’s harder to get video game publishers to come. All this is being built little by little…

PiXii Festival 2022

S. M. – The PiXii Festival is above all a synergy with Sunny Side of the Doc of course. We want to be a resonance of audiovisual trends for documentary. We had several hundred projects proposed for pitch sessions at Sunny Side: we chose the projects with a sort of “New Voices” logline in mind to be able to support new entrants in the sector, on subjects that are rarely heard.

S. M. – Social, environmental, feminist, discriminated population, new territories… We will not be in the lightness! The creators have strong ideas that we want to defend. The official selection is really the reflection of that. And it is not an express will of my part since the jury is composed of representatives of cultural places, partners and professionals. From my point of view, it is really the immersion proposed that can allow to better apprehend certain subjects. The classic documentary, the podcast, are less immersive formats. The XR brings a better apprehension vector, a presence.

S. M. – If I have to take a step back, the idea is mainly to be a way to move projects forward. To put all the talents, producers and broadcasters together in the best possible conditions so that ideas can circulate, budgets can be discussed and finished works can be sold. XR is no longer relegated to the “geek village”, but is fully integrated into the global market. The innovation it brings is beneficial to everyone, including the audience. Today a linear documentary producer may want to launch an immersive segment, a podcast, a web-doc series, etc. It’s our job at Sunny Side of the Doc to break down the silos, to bring everyone together, and create transmedia ecosystems like we saw recently with LADY SAPIENS. And other examples exist.

2022 Competition

2022 Off-Compétition

Does immersive creation necessarily involve works with impact?

S. M. – The XR “for good” or impact is included in our selection, because it is a real movement. Almost all the projects that circulate in festivals are part of it. An XR experience alone is not economically viable; it must offer something that will interest broadcasters, platforms and lead to a more global discussion. In my opinion, this is what is happening today at a broadcaster like France Télévisions, and elsewhere in the world: to have a real production strategy for all departments. We come back to the very idea of transmedia! When you see that Spotify France is producing a fiction podcast about Batman, you think that anything is possible. From fiction to documentary, from VR to sound, from live online to locations… Even if all this must be driven by a desire for history and an economic base.

S. M. – The Competition, selected by a jury of professionals, is indicative of this state of affairs with, among others, a National Geographic production with a revealing title: PLASTIC ON THE GANGES. We have a VR work in volumetric capture by a young director-producer (Joanne Popińska), THE CHOICE, around the fundamental choices of women. The first episode is about abortion in the United States, in a broadcast context that reinforces its reality and emotion. We will also have augmented reality (AR) with SUPPLIQUES STORIES, supported by France tv lab (link), about the letters that were sent by the Jewish population of Paris to the Vichy government during the Second World War. And also in AR, NOIRE, which looks back at a historical fact: before Rosa Parks, another young black woman refused to give up her seat on a bus.

S. M. – We also offer an Off-Competition section that revisits works already known to the industry, but not necessarily to the general public. DAWN OF THE ART around the Chauvet cave, an exploration of Notre-Dame based on an Assassin’s Creed game from Ubisoft… And this year we are happy to welcome the Palais augmenté 2 exhibition in partnership with the RMN-Grand Palais, in parallel to its presentation in Paris (see our interview in French with Roei Amit, its director).

An industry on the rebound after Covid-19

S. M. – The health crisis has inevitably impacted the XR industry, which has been very dynamic at the heart of events. We see broadcasters reviewing their strategy, cultural players opening up again to experimentation, studios restructuring… We are gaining in ambition, with some producers remaining the locomotives of the immersive industry. And who are opening subsidiaries dedicated to distribution! It’s a major fact to see real XR operators in broadcast/distribution. At PiXii, we especially note the arrival of projects at the Pitch coming from many countries, from Eastern Europe, Africa, Spain… We want to support the effort of emerging territories, and that’s why in 2022 our pitch session around digital projects is called “New Voices”.

Immersive Experiences Pitch

Digital Na(rra)tive Stories Pitch

In this article

PiXii Festival @ Sunny Side Of The Doc 2022

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Mathieu Gayet

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