Throwback to the 4th edition
June 9-13, 2021
A record attendance and new international perspectives! During 5 days, the NewImages Festival celebrated immersive creation of all kinds and showcased the newest, brightest and boldest of African creation as part of the Africa2020 Season.
Table of contents
Download
Key figures
8000
visitors in Paris during the 5 days
3000
daily visits for XR3 (virtual exhibition)
800
accredited professionals (+30%)
46
nationalities were represented
41
projects for the XR Financing Market
450
meetings were organized (+34%)
94
Decision Makers invited (+100%)
33
countries at the XR Financing Market
Line-up, program, guests
« We made the bet of an edition as international as possible, despite the sanitary and geographical restrictions. It precisely seemed necessary for us to allow for even wider access to the artworks, by co-producing the virtual exhibition XR3, and adding several satellite locations from around the world to it, but also by welcoming artists from the African continent. Immersive art offers a genuine knowledge of other lived experiences, other cultures. It becomes the medium that can rekindle our link with parallel realities. While Jean Rouch’s camera observed the trance in the ceremonies of Dogon people from the outside, immersion can in
turn give us an unprecedented experience of it. »
Line-up of immersive
artworks
Over thirty immersive experiences and installations, including many world premieres were presented this year.
Projects in development
41 international projects in development and looking for partners were presented to the Decision Makers as part of the XR Financing Market.
Industry Days program
To check on the state of XR industry and face upcoming challenges, in presence of international leaders from the XR ecosystem.
Members of the jury / winning projects
Claude BARRAS
Director, Producer
(Swiss)
Bertrand MANDICO
Author, Filmmaker
(France)
Yael NAIM
Musician, Producer, Director
(France, Israel)
Selly RABY KANE
Designer, Director
(Senegal)
Amongst the 17 artworks running for the XR Competition, members of the jury rewarded the followings:
- WE ARE AT HOME, by Michelle and Uri Kranot, won the Grand Prize (worth €6,000)
- REEDUCATED, by Sam Wolson, won the Special Jury Prize – VR (tie) (worth €3,000)
- STRANDS OF MIND, by Adrian Meyer, won the Special Jury Prize – VR (tie) (worth €3,000)
- ACQUA ALTA – CROSSING TH MIRROR, from artists Claire Bardainne and Adrien Mondot, won the Special Jury Prize – AR (worth €3,000€)
- BIOLUM, by Abel Kohen and Jon Rowe, won the brand new UniFrance / NewImages Festival Export Grant (€1,000)
The NewImages Best Pitch Award (€1,000€) awarded the best project pitched during the XR Financing Market :
- LIGHTS!, co-produced by Les Films du Tambour de Soie (FR), Small Creative (FR) and Auteurs&Cies (FR).
Since 2019, the NewImages Festival has partnered with the Kaohsiung Film Festival and the French Office in Taipei to organize the Taiwan XR Residency. This year, the program will host foin Kaohsiung:
- Mathieu Pradat, selected with his project ENCOUNTERS, produced by La prairie productions and SoWhen?
Highlights and new features
— Africa2020 Season —
As part of the Africa2020 Season, the NewImages Festival showcased the newest, boldest and brightest of African creation. In addition to the exhibition of some immersive artworks and the participation of artists and professionals, this unique focus also included:
Video Mapping “Chosi Chosi”
“Chosi Chosi”: is a respectful command of attention from the storyteller before sharing iintsomi (African folk tales). For two evenings, this original creation illuminated the Saint-Eustache Church and invited the visitors to gather for a digital fire, a travel across time, space and cultures.
Portraits of African Cities
Abidjan, Cotonou, Kigali, Algiers, Johannesburg… We had the opportunity to feel the vibes of some African cities – as modern as plural – through a series of time-lapse videos, showed on a 180° LED screen and inspired by the work of Beninese photographer Mayeul Akpovi.
Africa-France XR Residency
This is the first XR creation residency in France open to emerging artists from Africa, in partnership with the Digital Lab African and the Cité internationale des arts. During one month, Xabiso Vili and Sonwabo Valashiya have developed a poetic project: Re/Member Your Descendants.
On stage – musical shows
The first one – NIX – is a Senegalese rapper with a very contemporary orchestration. The second one, Aida Sock (and her band, the Dream Time), is was born in Niger, raised in Senegal and juggles between soul, hip-hop and Afro-modern rhythms. Both of them have mixed music and creative innovation to set the outdoor stage on fire!
Re/Member Your Descendants
The project asks the question: “If you were an ancestor, what would your descendants call upon you for?” Through a series of interviews with various South Africans, Xabiso Vili, in collaboration with Sonwabo Valashiya, looks to bring the spiritual plane into the physical space. Using Augmented Reality, the interviewees are illustrated as their ancestors and their stories are told though poetry.
Kandaka and the Black Pharaohs
This film was an original creation specifically designed for the festival and our 180° LED screen (Ainslee Robson). It is a tribute to Amanirenas, a revolutionary queen who defeated Roman forces. Through her perspective, we have entered the ruins of the Kushite Empire and learnt about the Sudan’s Black Pharaohs.
— XR3, the virtual exhibition —
It is a unique virtual exhibition, in co-production with Cannes XR and the Tribeca Film Festival. From June 9 to 20 and from July 6 to 7, our three VR selections were showcased at the Museum of Other Realities (MOR), a breathtaking virtual exhibition space in which each room hosted an original and inventive scenography, specially designed for this momentous occasion by the selected artists.
— And many other things too —
Satellite venues abroad
Promoting and making XR artworks more accessible beyond borders! Thanks to a network of satellite partner venues, NewImages line-up has been exported around the world.
New content to feel the vibes
Don’t miss the NewImages African Season podcast we launched during the festival as part of the Africa2020 Season or the interviews of some XR industry professionals by the students of our partner schools.
A brand-new residency @Villa Medici
With a €6,000 endowment, this brand new residency allows a French creator to work on his/her project in an exceptional location: the Villa Medici in Rome. In partnership with: the Embassy of France in Italy, the Institut français Italia, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici and Rai Cinema.