Newimages Festival: “Education and immersive images” (round table)
Focus on a Virtual Reality experiment conducted at the Fémis by Benoît Labourdette. As part of a round table presentation of various experiences around immersion, moderated by Xavier Grizon.
Program and participants
Speech by Benoît Labourdette about the VR experience at La Fémis (audio - 15 minutes - New Images Festival - 2018)
Thinking about virtual reality...
Virtual Reality, this project of total immersion in an imaginary world, linear or interactive, which has been in the state of successive prototypes for more than 40 years, seemed to start “taking” in creative and industrial terms in 2015-2016. We have seen the appearance of many tools, experimental projects, public support for production, broadcasts in festivals, installations of VR headsets in museums, symposiums ...
For my part, I have always thought that a new technology should be thought outside the frame, that is to say questioned, beyond the objectives given to it by the industrialists, in its anthropological, sociological, philosophical, political dimensions, and not only aesthetic. Thinking of a 360° spherical narrative is in my opinion not at all sufficient to seize the potentialities, and possible risks, of these new tools.
So since 2017, I have been exploring bushwalks, exploratory and playful, to question the issues of Virtual Reality technology. I believe that the “side step” is a real tool for thinking, building critical thinking, so basically freedom, ie democracy. Virtual Reality is already often used in the field of technical engineering. Still, few audiovisual creation projects have been realized in VR. On the other hand, it is conceivable that little by little, with the “metaverse”, VR will become part of our daily lives. We are not there yet, so it is time to question this technology and its future uses, to remain conscious in the world of tomorrow. I believe that for this, putting it into practice is a very good way.
Here you will find a selection of experiments with Virtual Reality that I have conducted since 2017, which I hope will inspire cultural action, audiovisual creation, museography and education. Workshops in libraries and media libraries, notably at the Centre Pompidou, atypical films, cultural actions in cinemas, animation of professional meetings, conferences, animation of workshops at the Fémis, contribution to the colloquium of the Louis Lumière school...
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Immersion VR: launch of an educational project, between collective creation and virtual reality
Three middle school classes are about to explore the narrative possibilities of 360° immersive cinema.
On October 15, 2025, at the Canopé workshop in Lyon: the start of a unique creative adventure, having three middle school classes create a virtual (…) -
Understanding virtual reality filmmaking
Workshop within the framework of QIFF (Quimper Images & Films Festival).
Use of Virtual Reality tools to animate a workshop for the creation of playful and atypical collective audiovisual works.The QIFF (Quimper (…) -
Presentation of the metaverse
Thoughts for consideration.
On October 28, 2021, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the change of his company’s name to “Meta” as well as his plans for the future, in (…) -
Creation and Virtual Reality
Critical thinking and creative methods.
Building a critical thinking of the stakes of Virtual Reality (360°) films, through practical application and creativity.This article was (…) -
“VR can still enter everyday use”
Interview of Benoît Labourdette by Pablo Maillé in Usbek & Rica media.
Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that has not yet been appropriated by the general public. It seems interesting to me to take a step aside, (…) -
Les cahiers de Louis Lumière 13 : “Creation and virtual reality”
Article published in the magazine “Les cahiers de Louis Lumière”, edited by Claire Chatelet.
This thirteenth edition of the Cahier Louis-Lumière invites us to question the complex audiovisual forms induced by the so-called “immersive” (…) -
BPI Centre Pompidou: production of a collective film in Virtual Reality
In four hours, form a group, experiment with RV, appropriate a place and the technique, imagine a scenario, and shoot a 360° film, thanks to (…) -
Cinema Jacques Brel Garges-lès-Gonesse: VR workshop for children
Making VR movies for groups of kids in an hour.As part of the “Almost Screen-Free Week”, the town of Garges-lès-Gonesse offered critical (…) -
The round table
Collective film (4’03s, 2019).
Musical performance in virtual reality in the heart of the city. -
Digital culture meetings: round table “VR, digital and education”.
Discovery of educational experiences using Virtual Reality, either as a tool or as an object for building critical thinking skills.Round table (…) -
Colloquium ENS Louis Lumière: forms, experiences and devices: audiovisual production in the face of “immersive” technologies
Dialogue on creation in virtual reality with Benoît Labourdette (filmmaker and producer, BL Prod) and Teddy Aymard (producer, Le bureau des (…) -
Numok Festival: “Let’s create 360°” workshop (libraries of the City of Paris)
Workshops for the production of films in Virtual Reality in three libraries of the City of Paris: Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, (…) -
Biarritz Media Library: workshop for the production of VR films
Filmmaking workshop in Virtual Reality for teenagers at the Biarritz Library. Co-produced by Passeurs d’images - ALCAThe Biarritz media (…) -
Newimages Festival: “Education and immersive images” (round table)
Focus on a Virtual Reality experiment conducted at the Fémis by Benoît Labourdette. As part of a round table presentation of various experiences (…) -
Femis: Exploring Virtual Reality 360°
A week of exploration of Virtual Reality by a group of Femis and CNSAD students, leaded by Benoît Labourdette. Experiments, creations, reflections (…) -
Photos of the construction site
A film by Benoît Labourdette (12’43s, 2017). Text and photographs by Myriam Drosne.
Binocular walk in 360° inside the memory of a project of photographs of a construction site.
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Femis: Exploring Virtual Reality 360°
Virtual Reality
A week of exploration of Virtual Reality by a group of Femis and CNSAD students, leaded by Benoît Labourdette. Experiments, creations, reflections (…) -
Digital culture meetings: round table “VR, digital and education”. Virtual Reality
Discovery of educational experiences using Virtual Reality, either as a tool or as an object for building critical thinking skills.Round table (…) -
Immersion VR: launch of an educational project, between collective creation and virtual reality Three middle school classes are about to explore the narrative possibilities of 360° immersive cinema.
On October 15, 2025, at the Canopé workshop in Lyon: the start of a unique creative adventure, having three middle school classes create a virtual (…) -
Creation and Virtual Reality Critical thinking and creative methods.
Building a critical thinking of the stakes of Virtual Reality (360°) films, through practical application and creativity.This article was (…) -
Growing up with culture : “The contribution of digital technology in cultural mediation” Cultural policy
Conference by Benoît Labourdette about cultural mediation with digital tools, on the example of the travelling projections within the framework of (…)
