Immersive Asteroid Thriller directed by Doug Liman set to lead at Venice Competition, with Eliza McNitt as jury president.
The 82nd Venice International Film Festival, taking place from August 27 to September 6, 2025, will feature the Venice Immersive competition, a groundbreaking event dedicated to immersive arts and media. This year's event will showcase a total of 69 projects from 27 countries, with 30 projects in Competition, 34 in the Best of Immersive section, and 5 projects in the Biennale College Cinema - Immersive section.
One of the most anticipated projects in the competition is Doug Liman's "Asteroid," an XR short thriller about a group of strangers who risk it all by taking an old rocket to mine a near-Earth asteroid for a chance at unimaginable wealth. Known for directing "The Bourne Identity," Liman leads this intense XR thriller that explores themes of risk and adventure in space.
In addition to Liman’s project, Venice Immersive 2025 will feature various immersive fiction, documentary, animation, and interactive installation-based projects, including those from the United Kingdom, Chile, and Morocco, supported by their respective cultural institutions.
The competition’s jury will award several prizes, including the Venice Immersive Grand Prize, Special Jury Prize, and Achievement Prize. This year, the jury will be chaired by Eliza McNitt, a virtual reality and generative AI pioneer, best known for her work on the VR experience "Spheres," executive produced by Darren Aronofsky. McNitt's latest project, "Ancestra," uses a mix of live-action performances and AI-based visuals and was produced by Aronofsky's Primordial Soup outfit.
Other jury members include Gwenael François, co-founder of Luxembourg's Skill Lab, and Boris Labbé, a French animator and installation artist.
Some other notable projects in the Venice Immersive competition lineup include "The Great Escape," by Joren Vandenbroucke, "L'ombre" ("The Shadow"), by Blanca Li, Edith Canat de Chizy, "Empathy Creatures," by Mélodie Mousset, "A Long Goodbye," by Kate Voet, Victor Maes, "Mulan2125," by Mo Huang, "Less Than 5gr of Saffron," by Négar Motevalymeidanshah, "Eddie and I," by Maya Shekel, "Sense of Nowhere," by Hsin‐Hsuan Yeh, "The Time Before," by Leo Metcalf, Michael Golembewski, "If You See a Cat," by Atsushi Wada, "Black Cats & Chequered Flags," by Elisabetta Rotolo, Siobhan McDonnell, "Reflections of Little Red Dot," by Chloé Lee, "Blur," by Craig Quintero, Phoebe Greenberg, "Alien Perspective," by Jung Ah Suh, Cristina Rambaldi, "La magie opéra," "1968," "La triste histoire de la petite souris qui voulait absolument devenir quelqu'un," "Creation of the Worlds," and "La Fille qui Explose VR" ("The Exploding Girl VR"), by Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel.
The selection will be showcased on Venice Immersive Island, located on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio near the Lido di Venezia. This marks an expansive and innovative showcase of immersive media at the Venice Film Festival in 2025.
The event, Venice Immersive 2025, will feature Doug Liman's XR short thriller, "Asteroid," among various other immersive projects, such as "The Great Escape" and "Blur," in the competition. This year's Venice Film Festival exhibition of immersive arts and media will take place on Venice Immersive Island and will consist of fiction, documentary, animation, and interactive installation-based projects from countries like the United Kingdom, Chile, and Morocco.
