2026 Kaohsiung Film Festival Announces XR International Competition Selections
The 2026 TTXC (Taiwan Technology X Culture Expo) Kaohsiung Film Festival will take place from October 9 (Friday) to October 26 (Monday). Selected from hundreds of submissions from 33 countries, this year’s XR International Competition features 29 nominated XR immersive experiences from 16 countries, including 8 works in the VR360 category and 21 in the Interactive category. They will compete for top honors, including the XR Golden Fireball Award, XR Immersive Experience Award, VR360 Narrative Award, and Special Jury Mention Award.
Major Location-Based Experience (LBE) projects highlight this year’s selection. Everest, the First Ascent, presented by Small Creative—the team behind last year’s highly acclaimed Titanic: Echoes from the Past—transports audiences to the historic moment of humanity’s first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. Amsterdam 1652 | The Hands of the City is set in 17th-century Amsterdam, inviting audiences to immerse themselves in the city through an interactive VR experience from the perspectives of various characters. Both works have been selected for the Venice Immersive competition at the upcoming Venice International Film Festival this September.
Another major highlight is the highly anticipated Denmark–Taiwan–Germany co-production Dark Rooms. A site-specific immersive installation that invites audiences into the intimate inner worlds of three real individuals through first-person storytelling, the work explores themes of sexuality, identity, trauma, and transformation, revealing experiences that often remain hidden in the shadows of desire and memory. Winner of the Grand Prize and Impact Prize at the 2026 NewImages Festival, as well as an official selection of the 2025 Venice Immersive Competition and the 2026 SXSW XR Experience Competition, Dark Rooms will finally make its Taiwanese debut. Meanwhile,
Another major highlight is the Denmark-Taiwan-Germany co-production Dark Rooms. A site-specific installation exploring sexuality, identity, trauma, and transformation through the intimate inner worlds of three individuals, it won the Grand Prize and Impact Prize at the 2026 NewImages Festival alongside selections at Venice Immersive and SXSW, and will finally make its Taiwanese debut. Meanwhile,Towards Jimagawod, the latest work by Taiwanese VR director LAI Kuan-yuan, draws inspiration from Black Wings, a novel by Taiwanese Indigenous Yami/Tao writer Syaman Rapongan. Combining mixed reality (MR) and projection, the work weaves live audience recitations together with the voice, presence, and memories of the author.
The final jury lineup for the XR International Competition has also been unveiled. This year’s panel includes Antoine CAYROL, co-founder of French immersive creation, production, and distribution company Atlas V; Anaïs EMERY, Vice President of Fondation pour la création numérique; and WU Dar-kuen, Director of Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB). Together, they will evaluate the entries based on creativity, narrative, technology, and immersion, selecting the most innovative and impactful works.
This year’s selections, spanning both the VR360 and Interactive categories, demonstrate significant technical advancement alongside an impressive breadth of themes and creative approaches. For the complete list of nominees, please visit the Kaohsiung Film Festival’s official website. The awards ceremony will be held on October 18.
