"Ceci est mon coeur"; Credit: a_BAHN (Véronique Kolber) / Film Fund Luxembourg

Film Fund Luxembourg has reported that five immersive works will represent the Grand Duchy in competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, which is taking place on Venice Lido in Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2024.

The festival's XR section features the following Luxembourg immersive works:

  • Ceci est mon cœur (Here lies my Heart) by Nicolas Blies and Stéphane Hueber-Blies; a mainly Luxembourgish co-production from the company a_BAHN (François Le Gall and Marion Guth), also with France;
  • Oto's Planet by Gwenael François; a mainly Luxembourgish co-production from the company Skill Lab (Julien Becker), also involving Quebec and France;
  • Mamie Lou by Isabelle Andréani; a Skill Lab (Julien Becker) co-production with France;
  • Ito Meikyu by Boris Labbé; a Les Films Fauves (Gilles Chanial and Govinda Van Maele) co-production with France;
  • Champ de Bataille (Battlefield) by François Vautier, a Digital Voodooh (Fred Neuen and Mark Mertens) co-production with France and Belgium.

The international jury of the Venice Immersive competition, composed of Celine Daemen, Marion Burger and Adriaan Lokman, will award three prizes: Venice Immersive Grand Prize; Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize; Venice Immersive Achievement Prize.

The Venice Immersive Island (Lazzaretto Vecchio), which is specially dedicated to immersive works in all their forms, will be present again this year. It will bring together all of the festival's XR activities, including immersive installations, viewing stations, conference and networking rooms, etc. This unique setting will host a world premiere of all the works presented there.

Film Fund Luxembourg noted that it would be represented on the island with a joint stand with French-speaking Belgium under the name "The Center of Attraction".

Many XR projects co-produced with Luxembourg will also be presented at the Venice Gap-Financing Market, as part of the Venice Production Bridge (29 August to 3 September). This is the film market of the Venice International Film Festival, with an emphasis on production and on offering a wide range of services, projects and networking opportunities to international audiovisual and immersive producers.

The official selection of classic films will be revealed on Tuesday 23 July 2024 during the festival's press conference.