Venice Immersive Showcases 30 Projects as LBE Drives XR at 10th Edition
Updated
Updated · Variety · Sep 5
Venice Immersive Showcases 30 Projects as LBE Drives XR at 10th Edition
2 articles · Updated · Variety · Sep 5
Summary
30 projects anchor Venice Immersive’s 10th edition, which organizers frame less as a retrospective than as the start of XR’s “second chapter.”
Location-based entertainment now drives the market, counselors said, as the consumer headset boom fizzled and financing shifted from platforms and hardware makers toward public funds, private investors and venue partners.
XREAL Aura glasses are a major festival draw, with a four-day hands-on showcase and two competition works built for the lightweight Google-powered AR device.
New funding and exhibition models run through the lineup, from Fever-backed “Smithsonian Starstruck” to L-Acoustics’ headset-free Bowie experience and the Norwegian Film Institute’s first XR-backed title, “Finding Frida.”
Star-led projects featuring David Bowie, Daisy Ridley and Margot Robbie underscore a wider push to make immersive storytelling more accessible as the medium still works out its narrative grammar.