BELFAST XR FESTIVAL 2023

BELFAST XR FESTIVAL

BELFAST XR FESTIVAL

2023 Festival Highlights

PROGRAMME

  • GOLIATH: Playing with Reality

    Narrated by Tilda Swinton, be guided through the many true realities of Goliath. Winner of Grand Jury Prize at 78th Venice International Film Festival and nominated for Emmy Award 2022.

  • Buried in the Rock

    Meet Tim and Pam Fogg, passionate rope specialists and speleologists as they explore Tullyard cave, Northern Ireland. Award winning ScanLAB studio uses LiDAR to create stunning immersive environments which may well hold the secrets to climate change.

  • Monoliths

    Experience radiant renderings of a Northern moor, city and coast with sweeping soundscapes and poetic monologues from Hannah Davies, Carmen Marcus and Asma Elbadawi. This is an arresting testament to the inextricable link between person and place.

  • Missing 10 Hours

    Witnesses Mara, a young woman, gradually loose control, as the effects of GHB, a drug used for sexually motivated attacks, takes hold. But the power to change how the night unfolds is in your hands.

  • Kindred

    Based on the remarkable true story of one aspirational LGBTQ+ parent’s groundbreaking journey through the adoption process in the UK. Selected for 79th Venice International Film Festival, award winning Electric Skies bring you a story of family and belonging.

  • Empire Soldiers

    Hear the forgotten stories of South Asian and Caribbean soldiers in World War One. As the journey continues to the present day, focus turns to the changes of the last 100 years alongside the impact of migration and racism.

  • When Something Happens

    Take an epic journey through the history of the cosmos via the medium of poetry and music. Stunning animations enriched by orator Boston Williams with a captivating soundtrack by Olga Wojciechowska.

  • Three Lights

    Join three soldiers, one month after the Battle of the Somme. A sometimes gritty, sometimes magical, but always authentic, exploration of family, love and life in World War One.

  • This Is Your Country Too

    An interactive comedy adapted from a BBC Radio play by Avin Shah. A satire on the immigration system and how our identity can ultimately be defined by strangers.

  • The Longest Walk

    Emotionally resonant, biographical, BAFTA nominated, urging people to recognise the symptoms of depression and encourage those who are suffering to reach out for help.

  • The Museum of Imagined Futures

    Step forward in time to experience predictions for the future and gain a glimpse of how humans and technology may yet live in balance with nature, from award winning director Shehani Fernando

  • Life Cycles

    Explore the impact of two wheels and frame on the very fabric of our culture. Turn the cinemascope, pump up a tyre and activating the city via the magic of hand tracking.

  • Promenade

    Visit de-constructed Blackpool to hear Mike Hatjoullis’ story. A second generation Greek Cypriot restaurant worker who went on to become an influential Royal College of Arts Textile Designer and Master Printmaker.

  • UnEarthed:The Beetle Story

    Set in the Amazon and Tongrass National Forest dive into our planet’s biodiverse richness. Created in conjunction with Meta. Voiced by Indira Varma and Richard Ayoade.

  • Locker Room: Rumble in the Jungle

    It is 1974 in Zaire. You are the Muhammad Ali about to face George Foreman in the biggest fight of your life. Enter the locker room and understand what it felt like to be part of the greatest boxing match to ever take place on the planet.

  • Drop in the Ocean

    Understand why there is an urgent need to protect the ocean. Created by the grandson of the ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau and brought to us by multi-Oscar winning studio Vision3.

  • (Hi)Story of a Painting: What’s The Point?

    Journey into the story behind Georges Seurat’s famous La Grande Jatte and discover how this underdog became a world renowned artist.

  • Get Punked!

    Meet Alex through her teenage diary as she expresses her growing love of punk music and culture through the 1970s and 80s utilising a wealth of BFI and BBC archive footage.

  • Off The Record

    Celebrate British South Asian musical heritage that charts the rise of Bhangra and the Asian Underground scene from the 1970s through to the joyous daytime raves of the early 2000s.

  • Mrs Sherlock Holmes

    Inspired by Sally Swain’s Great Housewives of Art, Mrs Sherlock Holmes is part of the Great Housewives of Fiction trilogy of immersive musicals that embrace the notion that behind every great Victorian Hero... is a woman clearing up.