Beyond the Screen: How Venice Embraced Extended Reality and Transformed Cinema

The 2025 Venice Film Festival didn’t just showcase films—it showcased a future. This year, Venice Immersive (VI), the festival’s dedicated extended reality (XR) program, unveiled 69 groundbreaking projects from 27 countries, ranging from AI-driven narratives to mixed-reality performances. With renowned directors like Doug Liman and Edward Berger making their XR debuts, and standout works such as Blur, On the Other Earth, and The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up pushing creative boundaries, 2025 may be remembered as the year immersive art claimed its cinematic spotlight.

Why This Year Marks a Turning Point

• Mainstream Meets ExperimentalXR, once confined to niche tech showcases, is now embraced by leading filmmakers. It has shifted from being a fringe experiment to a core mode of cinematic expression.

• From Tools to a New LanguageXR is no longer just a technological add-on—it is shaping a new grammar of storytelling, merging cinema, gaming, live performance, and interactivity.

• Global, Genre-Bending CreationsThe festival featured diverse narratives, from AI cloning thrillers to poetic myths, proving XR is a medium for every genre and culture.

Immersive Cinema as a Cultural Statement

The rise of XR at Venice reflects a broader cultural hunger for experiential storytelling—narratives that blur the line between watching and living a story. Productions like On the Other Earth challenge not just what cinema is, but what it can become.

Key Highlights

• Blur — A VR thriller probing identity through the lens of AI cloning.

• On the Other Earth — A mixed-reality dance production fusing movement with digital layering.

• The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up — A poetic VR adaptation of Wu Ming-Yi’s story, steeped in myth and memory.

What This Means for Entertainment’s Future

• Narrative Boundaries Redefined: XR delivers stories you inhabit, not just view.

• New Festival Formats: Venues now cater to multi-sensory and participatory art.

• Audience as Co-Creator: Presence and interaction become part of the narrative.

• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Filmmakers, game designers, and performers converge to create new forms of expression.

Closing Thought

The 2025 Venice Film Festival marked more than a season of premieres—it marked a paradigm shift. Extended reality has stepped out of the shadows, becoming an essential part of how stories are created and experienced. The boundary between illusion and reality is dissolving—and cinema will never be the same.