Projects

Projects

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The Starry Sand Beach

Genre: Documentary, Fantasy

Produced by: Lucid Realities

Directed by: Nina Barbier, Hsin-Chien Huang

Original Title: La plage de sable étoilé

Lead Artist: Nina Barbier, Hsin-Chien Huang

Runtime: 15min

Language: French, English, Chinese

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

The Starry Sand Beach is a scientific tale in virtual reality that takes us on a journey to discover the star-shaped foraminifera, small organisms of crucial ecological importance threatened by global warming and ocean acidification. The experience is divided into three parts: the legend, the underwater forest, and the exploration of the Earth’s ancient geological memory. All throughout the experience and along with the foraminifera, you witness signs of the many threats to the marine and coral microorganisms, embodied by sea serpent symbolizing the acidification if the oceans. You are invited to travel vertically from the sea to the sky, starting in a small room before moving deep into the sea and finally returning to the stars.

Director’s statement:

Nina Barbier : In this project, I intended to match science and poetry, as the stars combine these two elements: for science, they are a plasmatic celestial corpse shining from their own light, but in a poetic and mythologic way, they tell stories and legends.
Hsin-Chien Huang : The essence of this experience is to understand the starry beach sensibly and rationally. Both the sensible mythical tale and the rational scientific explanation are equally important to create the full experience.

Origin: France

Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link

Platform: Alexandria

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End of Night

Genre: Drama, Narrative

Produced by: Mikkel Skov, A Makropol production - in co-production with Novelab

Directed by: David Adler

Original Title: Nattens ende

Lead Artist: David Adler

Runtime: 49 minutes

Language: English

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

1943. You are sitting in a boat with Josef. He is rowing from Nazi-occupied Denmark to safety in neutral Sweden. As the boat crosses the ocean, the sea gives way to the streets and people that populate his mind. Your journey together becomes a living landscape of painful recollections from the night of his escape. As dawn draws near, you will witness the trauma of escape and the guilt of surviving – when loved ones are left behind.

Director’s statement:

End of Night is a story that probes how the choices we make in the present eventually become memories. It is a reconstruction built from emotions like regret, nostalgia and pride. I want the audience to have a personal meeting with a refugee – someone whose life is defined by memories. I worked with the story of my family, as well as the stories of escape that have shaped my native city.

Origin: Denmark

Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link

Platform: Alexandria

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Red Tail EP.1

Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy

Produced by: Yi-Ching CHEN, Zero One Film, Funique VR, Kaohsiung Film Archive, Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation

Directed by: Fish Wang

Original Title: 紅尾巴 EP.1

Lead Artist: Fish Wang

Runtime: 7min

Language: English, Mandarin

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

At a train station floating in the cloud, a mysterious red tail catches the boy’s attention. Chasing the red tail, the boy has traveled through countless magical places, ran into the bizarre creatures, and finally he meets the gentleman, who seems to know his secrets more than he does. When the red tail reminds the boy of his own memory and sadness, what’s the secrets hiding behind, and where will it lead him next?

Director’s statement:

During the period of growing from children to adults, numerous struggles happen. Teenagers are eager to be understood, while the physical changes of their bodies are easy to be noticed, the dramatic inner transformations are often ignored. Through this VR work, I would like to let the viewers know: We all have red tails, as pain is a part of growing up. Let’s enjoy our lives with tears and laughter, and we’ll all become a better self.

Origin: Taiwan

Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest

Platform: Alexandria

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Delightful Garden VR – Sights of Sins by Hieronymus Bosch

Genre: Art/Culture, Educational, Narrative

Produced by: Michael Gödde, Videoreality GmbH

Directed by: Carolin Wedler

Original Title: Delightful Garden VR. Eine Virtual Reality Erfahrung im Garten der Lüste von Hieronymus Bosch

Lead Artist: Carolin Wedler

Runtime: 20min

Language: English

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

In the virtual reality experience DelightfulGardenVR, visitors can literally step through the canvas into Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Delights” painting and experience an exciting adventure inside. The contents of the original painting were reconstructed in 3D and brought to life. The user learns more about the painting’s theme and motifs by helping a desperate garden inhabitant stoping his fellow human beings from sinning, in order to preserve the paradisiacal garden.

Director’s statement:

6 years ago our tiny team began the giant attempt to bring Hieronymus Bosch’s famous painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights” to life. To utilise the power of Virtual Reality and step through the canvas into the painting, to materialise this ancient world of symbolism and unparalleled imagination. We wanted to visit this place that doesn’t exist, so creating it turned out to be one of the most valuable journeys we went on. Today we can finally take other people with us into the garden.

Origin: Germany, Hessen

Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest

Platform: Alexandria

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Glimpse

Genre: Animation, Drama

Produced by: Lee Harris, Mr Kite Ltd, Albyon

Directed by: Benjamin Cleary, Michael O'Connor

Original Title: Glimpse

Lead Artist: Benjamin Cleary, Michael O'Connor

Runtime: 23min

Language: English (French Subtitles)

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

A panda called Herbie is holed up in his illustrator studio after a bad breakup with a talented deer called Rice. Using Herbie’s art we delve back through the memories of their relationship from the heartbreaking end to the beautiful beginning; a dreamlike voyage through his mind, his heart and his illustrations.

Director’s statement:

Over the course of the piece we want someone to experience the full force of falling in love, dancing with another soul for a while and then losing that love as it all becomes a cosmos of memories.
Bringing Glimpse to life has been one of the most challenging and fulfilling projects we have ever undertaken. We set out to help define the grammar of immersive storytelling and contribute to the emerging canon.

Origin: UK, France, Ireland

Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest w/link

Platform: Alexandria

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Luna: Episode 1 – Left Behind

Genre: Animation

Produced by: Charuvit Wannissorn

Directed by: Charuvit Wannissorn

Original Title: Luna: Episode 1 - Left Behind

Lead Artist: Charuvit Wannissorn

Runtime: 5min (Demo)

Language: English

Completed in: 2022

Synopsis:

LUNA: EPISODE 1 – LEFT BEHIND is an interactive VR story about an android and a little girl trying to survive an AI apocalypse. The machines seem to be after only one goal: to exterminate its creators. You, a small commercial droid, wake up and find your system to be reset. Can you, a droid with no combat capabilities, protect Luna? Can humanity be saved?

Origin: Canada

Devices: Oculus Quest series

Platform: VeeR

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Genesis

Genre: Adventure, Documentary, Historical

Produced by: Maria Courtial, Faber Courtial - In cooperation with Telekom Magenta VR

Directed by: Jörg Courtial

Original Title: Genesis

Lead Artist: Jörg Courtial

Runtime: 13min

Language: English, German

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

GENESIS embarks on an emotionally intense virtual reality journey to experience the dramatic milestones in the evolution of earth and mankind. An immersive 24 h metaphor of 4.7 bn years of evolution that reveals: We are children of galactic luck, born in the final second of eternity.

Director’s statement:

It took an eternity for the Earth to become the place we know and then came a being who, in the blink of an eye, actively changed the planet like nothing before. Our film tells our story. So far children of galactic luck. Our planet lies in the habitable zone, equipped to protect us from a hostile universe, yet it is no longer cosmic catastrophes that threaten us, but we ourselves. The greatest extinction of species happened 250 mya ending an era of immense diversity of life forms. It cannot be ruled out that this catastrophe will be repeated due to our influence on environmental conditions.

Origin: Germany

Devices: HTC Vive series/Oculus Rift series/Quest

Platform: VeeR, Alexandria

Cannes Docs

Rainy Dreams

Category: Spotlighted Projects

Directed by: Alireza Ghasemi

Produced by: Constance Le Scouarnec | Anna Films (France), Alireza Ghasemi & Reza Baastani | Two Dots (Iran)

Country of Production: France, Iran, USA

Original Title: Rainy Dreams

Runtime: 80'

Expected Release: March 2028

Production Stage: Development

1st Feature: No

Looking for: Sales agents, distributors, buyers, co-producers, gap financing

Synopsis:

In Calais, five exiled children confront their fears and pursue their hopes through their nocturnal journeys. Rainy Dreams explores exile through intimacy : a territory where fears, desires, and memories are transformed and reveal what childhood goes through when borders never sleep.

Director/Co-producer’s Profile:

Alireza Ghasemi is an Iranian filmmaker based in Paris. He studied Cinema at the Art University of Tehran and later continued his training at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Ghasemi’s short films have received international recognition at major festivals. His Lunch Time (2017) premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to win several awards. His later short films, were selected at prestigious festivals including BFI London Film Festival, Palm Springs ShortFest, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, Aspen Shortsfest, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Torino Film Festival. In 2024, his debut feature film In the Land of Brothers (co-directed with Raha Amirfazli) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Best Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The film has since received international acclaim and multiple prizes. Ghasemi is an alumnus of the Cannes Cinéfondation Residency (2018) and Berlinale Talents (2022).

Producer’s Profile:

Constance Le Scouarnec is the founder of Anna Films, an independent production company established in 2024. She made her first steps at Les Films Pelléas, where she contributed to digital projects for the 3e Scène de l’Opéra de Paris, before joining Jonas Films and Miyu Productions. Drawing on a strong network of talent and solid collaborations, she puts her experience at the service of an ambitious vision: supporting singular, innovative works and helping a new generation of filmmakers emerge from all horizons, with the conviction that the industry benefits from opening up to more diverse voices. Anna Films is currently developing several short and feature films, both documentary and animated. Constance accompanied filmmaker Anna Buda to the Palme d’Or for Short Films at Cannes 2023 with 27, and remains committed to encouraging greater representation of women in the film industry.

 

Co-Producer’s Profile:

Reza Baastani founded together wtih Alireza Ghasemi Two Dots in Tehran in 2023. The company grew out of a shared artistic dialogue during their years studying at the Tehran University of Art, evolving into a production company dedicated to supporting bold and formally distinctive filmmaking that moves fluidly between realism and imagination. Two Dots focuses on discovering unique voices, fostering cross-cultural dialogue, and supporting filmmakers in developing their projects with a particular emphasis on visual language and formal innovation. With international collaboration at the core of its vision, the company partners with co-producers and creative teams worldwide to bring to life films that reflect the concerns and aesthetics of contemporary world cinema.

Yasmin Van Deventer is an Iranian-American producer, director, writer, and actress based between Paris and Los Angeles. Founder of One Thousand & One Nights Productions LLC, she develops intimate, character-driven stories shaped by singular voices. She was an associate producer on Ambush by Yassmina Karajah, an executive producer on Day of Fire by Sara Boutorabi, and is currently executive producing Rainy Dreams by Alireza Ghasemi, presented at Cannes Docs 2026. With Pomegranate, adapted from her play Tehran Baby, she makes her directorial debut, continuing her exploration of displacement and the fragile search for love and belonging.

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Marco & Polo Go Round

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Romance

Produced by: Audrey Pacart, Paul-E. Audet, Pierre Even, Alain-Gilles Viellevoye, Item 7, Belga Productions

Directed by: Benjamin Steiger Levine

Original Title: Marco & Polo Go Round

Lead Artist: Benjamin Steiger Levine

Runtime: 12min

Language: English, French

Completed in: 2021

Synopsis:

On the morning of his birthday, Marco discovers the cake Polo has lovingly made and left for him on the kitchen table. He also notices that every object in the kitchen has been battened down with tape and twine as if to safeguard against an oncoming storm. What begins as a beautiful morning for the young couple takes a surreal turn when their world literally falls apart around them.

Director’s statement:

For years, images of a sun-drenched kitchen slowly coming apart as gravity mysteriously turned on its head kept playing through my mind. I began to realize the kitchen in my mind looked a lot like the one I shared with my first girlfriend, a person who I loved in ways that were not realistic and who ultimately broke my heart. And so, Marco and Polo’s adventure was born, inspired by intimate lived experiences that play out in a world where gravity is coming apart.
To explore the beauty, mystery, heartache of love in the context of a dreamlike, visceral, action sequence seemed unique to me. My hope is that Marco & Polo Go Round introduces adult audiences to VR content that is a physical thrill ride as well as emotionally honest and fulfilling.

Origin: Canada, Belgium

Plateform: Not Available

Frontières

Gnomes!

Category: Proof of Concept

Directed by: Ruwan Suresh Heggelman

Produced by: Richard Raaphorst (The Mad Scientists Movement), Monique van Kessel (Make Way Film)

Country of Production: The Netherlands

Genre: Horror

Language: Dutch

When a talented arrogant mountainbiker enters an off limits forest section, she inadvertently becomes the key piece in a secret battle between humanity and gnomanity, and the only person to rescue us from complete annihilation.