Everything We Saw At NewImages Festival 2025

NewImages Festival recently returned for its eighth edition, and we checked out the latest in XR filmmaking.

I'll often joke that I have one of media's more unique jobs, which largely comes down to the sheer breadth of experiences I face. Covering the XR industry full-time sometimes means there's overlap with films, with many big events now hosting a dedicated XR segment. I previously called NewImages Festival 2024 and its XR Market an eye-opening event, and that's still true in 2025.

Now joining Venice Immersive on my annual events calendar, this year's festival once again presented an intriguing blend of VR and mixed reality projects. Not everything showcased is a hit and there's less competition this year, yet the creativity is clear. Many of these brief experiences aren't afraid to tackle harder-hitting themes, showcasing continued creativity in XR filmmaking.

This year's event featured 14 different immersive experiences in its official XR competition, alongside a host of additional 'out of competition' projects. Some of these projects we've given individual write-ups that we've linked below, but for everything else, here are our full impressions.

My festival began with Another Place by Le Fresnoy, a seated experience that focuses on a Thai asylum seeker and trans woman called Renée seeking refuge in France. I encountered some performance stutters and there's some strange narrative decisions, like seeing Renée float through the trees into her apartment, that feels out of place. Still, it's a deeply personal story that resonates, presenting a guided experience that focuses on the loneliness of her journey.

Ito Meikyū came next with the promise of exploring a VR digital labyrinth inspired by Japanese art history and literature. Because Quest 3 doesn't have eye tracking support, movement is limited to gaze tracking that often feels frustratingly precise, and I also encountered two progression blockers. Given this offers a visually striking world, I'd love to come back in the future on a headset like Apple Vision Pro or Quest Pro.

Ito Meikyu Is A Digital VR Labyrinth Inspired By Japanese Art History

Ito Meikyū takes you through a VR digital labyrinth inspired by Japanese art history and literature.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Next up was Trans-Composition by Shiuan Yan Studio, an experience that aims to poetically explore the idea of transformation. Inspired by Go and Chinese philosophical thought, it's an intriguing surrealist journey of self reflection that dives into the cycle of reincarnation and the soul.

Soul Paint is narrated by Rosario Dawson, and it's what I'd consider to be my personal highlight from NewImages Festival, even though it wasn't in the XR Competition. This project combines 3D drawing with personal introspection, giving you space for self reflection and to consider your emotions as you ascend to an ethereal space.

What follows across the next 20 minutes feels calming, relaxing, allowing you to draw whatever you're feeling and attach that to yourself. You can then draw across your virtual body and leave a voice note at the end, which you can choose to save for others to encounter. It's a lovely idea for sharing your sentiments with others when words aren't enough.

If Venice Immersive is anything to go by, XR film festivals wouldn't be complete without representation from VRChat projects, and I quickly found one with Yorutouge. Using the works of Vocaloid songwriter and producer Kikuo, this offers a nonstop 20-minute rave through a public VRChat world that's designed to be uplifting.

Between the strong environmental design, impressive displays and enjoyable music, it gets my recommendation.

Yorutouge Is A Trippy Vocaloid Rave World In VRChat

Yorutouge is a psychedelic Vocaloid rave world you can explore in VRChat.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Lost and Found soon followed. This short VR experience aims to reflect themes relating to loss, emotions, memories, mental health, and more. It's a student project created for the European Joint Master in Animation program, ReAnima, and there's a curious approach to this world that focuses on what happens to items you've lost across your life.

Lost And Found Is A Roomscale VR Experience Focused On Loss

Lost and Found is a short interactive VR experience that explores loss, mental health, and memories.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Three more projects rounded up my time at NewImages Festival. Heartbeat is not a story I feel uses a VR headset particularly effectively, as this could easily be a more traditional production. However, this frankly heartbreaking 10-minute story about a woman's miscarriage will stick with me for a long time.

Next is All I Know About Teacher Li, an interactive mixed reality documentary focused on the titular art student that lives in Italy, who became famous during 2022's COVID-19 protests in China. Mixing hand-drawn animation with archival 3D footage, it's an intriguing examination of social media activism that held my interest.

Last up is 444.2, a 6DOF film that takes its name from the first star cluster mapped by stargazers constellates that are over 444.2 light years away. Given that we've continued seeing ever more creative approaches to XR filmmaking, 360° video arguably doesn't cut it anymore when we're a decade past modern VR's return. Watching this journey through space is certainly pretty, but there's not much else to this.

I'd be remiss not to highlight the XR Competition experiences I didn't get the chance to directly go hands-on with. Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom I'd previously tried, Uncanny Valley: A New Day offers a more theatrical VR experience, while Duchampiana takes aim at body politics. Spectral Haven looks at a future “where AI holds none of the promises of today but all the regrets.”

Saying I “enjoyed” a lot of these experiences doesn't feel like the right word given the heavier themes. I often found myself wishing for something a little lighter, yet I came away feeling positive. If you're planning to use a VR headset for your work, you need to use the medium's strengths to make it worthwhile. Otherwise, you're unnecessarily limiting yourself, and several experiences fell foul of that.

Still, most of this year's lineup showcased an exciting range of experimental projects that typically don't get many headlines across wider VR entertainment. I'll be keen to return to NewImages Festival next year to see the ongoing state of play.

NewImages Festival 2025 ran from April 9 until April 13, 2025.