NEXT will transform this year in the first VR market in the world. It will take place during the first 5 days of the Marché du Film: Wednesday May 17-Sunday May 21. A full program of VR screenings, conferences, workshops and masterclasses will be presented. The NEXT space will be composed of a NEXT Conference Room, a NEXT Theatre, a NEXT VR Video Library and a whole space dedicated to exhibitors with booths and meeting tables.

The NEXT visitors will have the choice to experiment among 80 VR films in three different ways: as a cinema-collective experience in the NEXT Theatre or at the Video Library with a stand-up or a seat-in VR experience. The stand-up VR library will have 3 stations on the NEXT space with 3 films per day. As it names indicates it, it will be a more interactive experience that implies movement of the full body. On the other hand, the seat-in experience just implies to put on the VR googles; there will be 3 booths for that with a tablet with VR films from directors that registered directly to the call and from NEXT exhibitors. The VR Theatre will offer 6 screenings per day every hour. Tickets are available for Marché participants at the NEXT Ticket Office.

Keynote speakers will take part of NEXT discussion with conferences tackling current film industry issues as Eric Darnell, Madagascar director and director of Baobab Studios, along with a panel of experts will explain how they are engaging with the world’s most rapidly evolving format to take storytelling into the new age. The Sodec & Québec Film and Television Council will present a selection of five talented VR creators and producers to talk about their work and will be moderated by Michel Reilhac. Music and cinema will take place at the heart of this VR program with Zach Richter who will share with its team the story behind Hallellujah, a VR music experience about the famous Leonard Cohen song. Ed Greig, the chief disruptor from Deloitte Digital, will be looking at some of the deadline statistics on VR adoption and its predictions for growth, followed by an analisis of the distribution approaches being adopted

A livestreaming of NEXT will happen on VRROOM website in order to spread the conferences and some interviews of NEXT participants to the largest public!

“We are very excited to extend our market activity to VR this year! Our aim is to offer a real opportunity to VR to grow into the film industry and have a real exchange with the professionals on this state-of-the-art technology. With more than 80 films we offer a landscape of today’s VR production.” says Jérôme Paillard, executive director at the Marché du Film

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

For more information, please contact Marie-Emmanuelle Oliver: meoliver@festival-cannes.fr