XRMust XR Awards 2022: A Year in Immersive Storytelling

Could this be the year of a “return to normal”? In reality, the pandemic years didn’t slow down the release of XR experiences (360 or interactive), but the return of physical events seems to benefit a better exposure of all – especially LBE experiences. So what’s the takeaway?

Some notes on the process of this vote:

• It is a public, online vote: this raises questions every year. How to see the works? How to vote without seeing ALL the works? This is a legitimate but insoluble problem. We simply look back on the past 12 months, calling on the XR community (very active on the networks) to reward the experiments that stood out. It’s not only a quality vote, but also a joyful call for participation – even if we notice that the winners are always projects that have been widely noticed at festivals for their quality 😉
• The number of online voters is remarkably stable: 636. The winners are therefore not simply chosen, but on the contrary benefit from a sufficient number of votes to be legitimate. We are working on a new version of the site which should allow us to offer you a more adapted voting system next year.
• We choose to mix all types of experiences (360, 6DOF, interactive, online, …) to reward the best of them. It is assumed, in the idea that the XR is a melting pot of common creation whose forms are multiple. But we are looking forward to your feedback for future editions!
• This is also the occasion to wish you a nice year 2023, and to promise you some changes around here (which explains some “bugs” on some pages at the moment – with our apologies). If you want to contact us to update your information on the site, it’s always here: yo@xrmust.com

These awards are the result of a pre-selection process carried out by several XR experts Paola Gazzani Marinelli (GIFF), Deepa Mann-Kler (Belfast XR Festival), Jay Kim (BIFAN), Keram Malicki-Sanchez (FIVARS), Philippe Bedard (quebeccanadaxr.co), Antony Vitillo (skarredghost.com) AND Marinda Botha x Agnese Pietrobon x Mathieu Gayet for XRMust.

XRMust Awards 2022 – FINAL RESULTS

BEST IMPACT OR DOCUMENTARY AWARD

First: LGBTQ+ VR MUSEUM

Second: FROM THE MAIN SQUARE (see our interview)

Third: THE CHOICE (see our interview)

BEST ACTING OR VOICE ACTING

First: STAY ALIVE, MY SON (see our interview)

Second: THE MAN WHO COULDN’T LEAVE (see our interview)

Third: MISSING PICTURES EP. 5: OH DEBU (see our interview)

BEST SCREENPLAY OR STORYTELLING

First: REIMAGINED, VOL. 1: NYSSA

Second: THE MAN WHO COULDN’T LEAVE (see our interview)

Third: THE CHOICE (see our interview)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY / VISUAL DESIGN

First: ON THE MORNING YOU WAKE (TO THE END OF THE WORLD) (see our interview)

Second: OXYMORE LIVE (JEAN-MICHEL JARRE)

Third: CHILD OF EMPIRE (see our interview)

CREATOR OF THE YEAR

The Ferryman Collective

BEST MUSIC OR SOUND DESIGN

First: STAY ALIVE, MY SON (see our interview)

Second: OXYMORE LIVE (JEAN-MICHEL JARRE)

Third: TYPEMAN (see our interview)

BEST NON INTERACTIVE / 360 VIDEO

First: THE MAN WHO COULDN’T LEAVE (see our interview)

Second: THIS IS NOT A CEREMONY

Third: ALL UNSAVED PROGRESS WILL BE LOST (see our interview)

BEST LIVE EXPERIENCE

First: GUMBALL DREAMS (see our interview)

Second: OXYMORE LIVE (JEAN-MICHEL JARRE)

Third: COSMOGONY (see our interview)

BEST INTERACTIVE / 6DOF

First: ON THE MORNING YOU WAKE (TO THE END OF THE WORLD) (see our interview)

Second: STAY ALIVE, MY SON (see our interview)

Third: EGGSCAPE (see our interview)

BEST 2022 EXPERIENCE

First: GUMBALL DREAMS (see our interview)

Second: STAY ALIVE, MY SON (see our interview)

Third: FROM THE MAIN SQUARE (see our interview)

2022’s XR Event of the Year: OnboardXR

We talked with Brendan Bradley about his platform OnBoardXR in 2022 (see our interview), and it seems that people rely on it!

If the votes (free on this category) have quoted wonderfully the very physical festivals of Venice, Tribeca, Raindance Immersive, SXSW (among others), the idea of a “virtual stage” for artistic performances has obtained some more votes. Year after year the gap between content and performance is narrowing, talents are crossing. What to hope for a particularly dynamic year 2023 !