Raindance Film Festival in London has made an enormous commitment to Virtual Reality (and other new media) over the last few years.

In addition to running a full branch of their regular film festival dedicated to showing Virtual Reality experiences on all kinds of devices, they are also now offering a full-day conference for current and aspiring VR professionals as well as anyone else who wants to immerse themselves in the possibilities and challenges of VR. Presented by Facebook 360 and Blend Media, the Raindance VR Experiences Summit brings together special guests from Facebook 360 product team and creators from LA, NYC, Paris, London, Madrid and (I think this is me!) Amsterdam.

At the VRX Summit, I’m very pleased to be participating in a panel called “Sensual Experiences In VR: Opportunities, Challenges, and Ethics” where I will be joined by the star of our film Second Date, Anne De Winter, as well as other VR filmmakers.

The day will be packed with talks and panel discussions featuring the world’s most daring creators such as:

• Caitlin Ramrakha and Chetan Gupta – special guests from Facebook 360 team who will give a keynote about the Facebook 360 platform and its benefits for 360 filmmakers and creators.
• Wesley Allsbrook – lead artist, art director and screenwriter of hand-illustrated VR experience Dear Angelica, Oculus Studio’s hit experience. Nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Animation Experience, it’s the world’s first hand-illustrated 360 short created entirely inside VR with Oculus Quill.
• Antoine Cayrol – executive producer and creator of Alteration, a mysterious cinematic VR narrative, nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Cinematic Experience. It uses Facebook’s AI algorithms to allow the viewers to experience what it’s like to be hacked by an AI.
• Pete Speller (Greenpeace), Grace Boyle (Multisensory Director) and James Manisty (VR Director) – creators of Greenpeace’s multisensory virtual reality experience Munduruku: The Fight to Defend the Heart of the Amazon,nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Social Impact Experience.
• Nicole Jackson – co-director of the Guardian’s First Impressions, nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Documentary Experience.
• Rafael Pavón – director of Ray, a new interactive VR narrative that allows the experiencer to use their voice to interact with a ray of light. Nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Interactive Narrative Experience, Ray will receive its world premiere at the Raindance VR Arcade. Rafael also directed Snatch VR Heist Experience, starring Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint, nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Branded Experience.
• Jane Gauntlett – director of In My Shoes: Intimacy, a first-person sensual documentary designed for two people to experience three encounters from six very different perspectives, nominated for Raindance VRX Awards Best Sensual Experience.
• Duncan Walker – indie game developer and filmmaker, director of the world’s first AR experimental short film with its World Premiere at Raindance Film Festival

The event will also feature pioneering VR experiences and the world premiere of the world’s first experimental AR short film, shot on iPhone and created with ARKit.

 Please come — it’s sure to be a fascinating day!