Agog-Backed Immersive Films Win Big at Venice Festival

Two immersive media projects supported by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Agog: The Immersive Media Institute have won two of the three prizes awarded in the Venice Immersive competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, organizers announced this week.

“Out of the Ashes,” co-directed by Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña, received the Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize. “Empire at Sea,” created and directed by Peter Flaherty, earned the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize. Both works tackle climate-related themes through markedly different technological and narrative approaches, according to the announcement.

“Out of the Ashes” is a 26-minute virtual-reality documentary narrated by actor Courtney B. Vance that immerses viewers in the aftermath of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. The piece combines first-person accounts with volumetric reconstructions of participants’ homes, built partly from families’ own photos and videos, and closes by spotlighting recovery groups including My Tribe Rise, Evolve Altadena and the Palisades Recovery Coalition. It was co-produced by The Mercantile Agency, Emblematic Group and Arizona State University’s MA in Narrative and Emerging Media program, with backing from Agog and the MacArthur Foundation.

“Empire at Sea” takes a different route, casting up to ten audience members at a time into an interactive augmented-reality drama set aboard a remote oil rig where climate scientists attempt to build a sustainable community after a catastrophic event severs them from the mainland. The 22-minute experience uses cinematic holograms projected around a custom LED table. It was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and ASU Gammage, developed with Flaherty Pictures, 4DV.ai and NightLight Labs, and supported by Agog, Yale University’s Schwarzman Center and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The work is scheduled for a run at Lincoln Center in January 2027.

Agog co-founder and executive director Chip Giller said the organization was founded on the premise that immersive media could help audiences engage with pressing issues and envision paths toward change. He said reactions to “Out of the Ashes” showed viewers around the world drawing parallels to disasters in their own communities, while “Empire at Sea” demonstrated how immersive technology can be paired with cinematic performance and an experienced cast.

Venice Immersive curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac credited Agog with contributing to the festival beyond the three projects it supported this year, noting the organization also convened creators, technologists and funders during the festival, including sessions built around a “Smart Glasses Petting Zoo” for hands-on demonstrations.

The immersive media sector has grown steadily as a fixture of major film festivals, with Venice Immersive marking its tenth edition this year as one of the most closely watched showcases for virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed-reality storytelling. Funding for such projects often comes through partnerships between nonprofits, universities and philanthropic foundations rather than traditional studio financing, reflecting the format’s continued position outside mainstream commercial distribution.

Climate change has become an increasingly common subject for immersive filmmakers, who argue that first-person, spatial storytelling can foster empathy in ways traditional documentary formats cannot. Industry observers have pointed to festival recognition, such as Venice’s immersive prizes, as a key signal of the medium’s maturation and its potential path toward wider public engagement.

A third Agog-supported project, “Solwata,” a mixed-reality documentary about communities in the Solomon Islands facing rising seas, also competed at Venice this year and is now showing at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Innovation Hub before appearances at the BFI London Film Festival and the COP31 climate conference.

As reported by PR Newswire, the wins underscore Agog’s growing footprint in the immersive storytelling space heading into the technology’s next decade of development.