Venice Immersive Showcases 68 VR Installations Tackling Global Crises at Lazzaretto Vecchio

During the Venice International Film Festival, the Immersive section on Lazzaretto Vecchio island featured 68 virtual reality installations confronting global crises. The works ranged from colonial aggression in the West Bank to climate change impacts. Négar Motevalymeidanshah, who won the Special Jury Prize last year for Less Than 5gr of Saffron, served on this year's jury. Ra'jin (We Shall Return) by Faiz Abu Rmeleh and Keren Manor, filmed over three years in the occupied West Bank, weaves stories of 11 Palestinian villages using documentary footage, social media clips, and 360-degree shots. Motevalymeidanshah believes VR's ability to submerge users in another's perspective makes it emotive. The selection included works on war, such as Karim Ben Khelifa's In 36,000 Ways and Sophia Bulgakova's Spomyny, and ecological disaster, like Peter Flaherty's Empire at Sea, which won the Achievement Prize, and Solwata on Solomon Islands relocation. Abderrahmane Sissako's Artou depicts a funeral procession from Europe to Mauritania. The Grand Prize went to The Pigeon Ring by Yuqi Zhang and Shixin Tao, exploring a fraught childhood. Motevalymeidanshah emphasized the importance of point of view in VR projects.