The Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes announces the launch of Cannes XR, a program fully dedicated to immersive technologies and entertainment in the very heart of the Palais des Festivals. From May 14-19, Cannes XR will bring together artists, producers, investors, programmers, and tech leaders, offering a multitude of networking, financing and distribution opportunities.

Dedicated to the XR entertainment industry, Cannes XR aims to be a community-based marketplace oriented towards B2B networking, and to serve as a structuring point for the XR ecosystem on an international scale. Cannes XR is also a major showcase, gathering and shining the light on hundreds of XR experiences curated by the best XR International Studios. Industry Leaders (SDKs, LBEs) will be invited to spread knowledge through a series of summits and talks. XR Artists and Producers will be given the opportunity to promote and, potentially, finance immersive works in progress through pitch sessions, as well as present their works to festival programmers and distributors by registering in a dedicated Library. Cannes XR will boast an 80 seat conference room, a VIP Showcase Lounge to present new projects, a VR Arcade with 10 VR pods offering more than 200 films, and a dozen booths for XR tech companies – in total, Cannes XR will cover 1000 sqm.

“Cannes has been a pioneer in placing VR at the forefront within the film community with the creation of Next five years ago at the Marché du Film and the acclaimed presentation of Iñarritu’s Carne y Arena in the Official Selection in 2017 which was awarded by the Academy just after Cannes”, shared Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival de Cannes. “With the creation of Cannes XR, the Festival is pursuing its efforts to foster all cinematographic art forms as it engages new audiences and draws different professionals in the Riviera”

Within this new context, the Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes and SpringboardVR have decided to partner up to offer selected XR studios the exclusive opportunity to distribute their XR works to global audiences. A dedicated Cannes XR channel, which gathers immersive works collected from 500 amongst the best XR studios across the globe, will be pushed and monetized through a network of 500 LBEs via SpringboardVR’s marketplace.

“We’re very excited about taking this game-changing step for VR in Cannes with SpringboardVR”, said Jérôme Paillard, Executive Director of the Marché du Film. “SpringboardVR will give Cannes XR the opportunity to travel beyond the Riviera and reach audiences worldwide as never before.”

Elie Levasseur, Cannes XR Program Leader, added: “Obviously, the Entertainment XR industry will need to conquer the general public at some point to pursue its development. Therefore, Cannes XR is committed to using its international notoriety to bring immersive narratives to moviegoers around the world and make the XR ecosystem grow.”

“SpringboardVR is honored to connect these creators with audiences outside the Festival through its industry-leading platform for location-based entertainment,” said Will Stackable, Co-Founder, SpringboardVR. “With our network extending to 46 countries, 500+ locations and over 4 million playtime minutes a month, this kind of immersive storytelling is a perfect complement to our portfolio of curated interactive experiences.”

During an extended Festival window, 100% of the revenue generated on SpringboardVR will go to the XR Studios. With this operation, Cannes XR and SpringboardVR wish to join the list of Festivals that actively support XR creation by adopting a unique approach: revealing the richness and diversity of XR works at a larger scale, not only to festival goers but also to global audiences.

Cannes XR is open to industry professionals accredited at the Marché du Film and the Festival de Cannes.