Written and directed by award-winning virtual reality filmmaker Ethan Shaftel and co-produced by easyAction, Veer, and Detona Cultura, the animated virtual reality short film Ajax All Powerful removes the barrier of the fourth wall to provide viewers with a uniquely immersive perspective in which they experience the events and emotions more acutely through the viewpoint of a protagonist.
Sony Electronics is adding a new model to its Spatial Reality Display portfolio with the addition of the ELF-SR2. At 27 inches, Sony says the larger 4K option provides highly realistic, three-dimensional content without the use of special glasses or virtual reality headsets.
Flowing with Fire, a new 360-degree documentary short from director Michael Gabriele and Chicago production company Daily Planet, centers on a group of Los Angeles-area artists who engage in what has been called “a hypnotic form of dance combined with pyrotechnics.”
Yosemite Cinema, an independent movie theatre located inside Yosemite National Park, has opened a Positron XR Cinema virtual reality theatre equipped with 16 motion pods designed to give audiences premium cinematic VR experiences.
London-based extended reality technology company disguise has acquired Atlanta-based immersive entertainment specialists Meptik to empower a global deployment of immersive productions, studios and installations delivered by Meptik and powered by disguise.
What is being called the world’s first interactive virtual-reality theatre is opening in Atlanta. Created by new technology company Exploring Digital, the new theatre, called the Megaverse, combines VR headsets and hand controls with a multi-sensory haptic experience unlike anything on the market. With unlimited freedom to move, people physically interact in this VR theatre, literally stepping into a metaverse environment.
The mixed reality company Silver Spoon and production house Schrom have partnered to launch a new extended reality stage in New York called XR New York.
Deluxe, the global provider of digital and cloud-based services to the world’s leading content production studios and distributors, has formed a new division, Deluxe Events, to provide content mastering, localization, and distribution for physical, virtual, and hybrid experiences.
The selection is complete for the Virtual Reality works of the 78th Venice International Film Festival. The Venice VR Expanded will again be held online September 1-19. From September 1-11 the Venice VR Expanded Program will be available on site for accredited festival guests, at the VR Gallery in the Palazzo del Casinò (Lido di Venezia), Sala Amici, upon reservation.
A new digital platform with the working title Cinnovate has secured € 380.000 funding through the European Union programme Cinemas as Innovation Hubs for Local Communities. The effort’s partners include four of Europe’s leading arthouse cinema networks – Folkets Hus och Parker, Folkets Bio (both from Sweden), Access Cinema (Ireland) and Art kino mreža Slovenije (Slowenia) – that together count 308 screens in three territories and will be coordinated by Cologne-based video-on-demand and digital distribution experts Rushlake Media and independent consultant Jan Runge. Additional content and network partners are the Event Cinema Association (United Kingdom), Spielfabrique (Germany) and IMZ International Music + Media Centre (Austria).
