The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is offering a sneak peek into the world of its UK-Canada Immersive Exchange, with four immersive prototypes bound for SXSW in Austin, Texas next week.

The projects, which will have their first public preview at the festival’s XR Experience Exhibition between March 13 to 15, encompass four of the six prototypes supported through the CFC program.

The UK-Canada Immersive Exchange was launched in November 2020 as a coproduction program between immersive technology creatives in the U.K. and Canada, offering $40,000 (or £25,000) to the prototype projects, as well as $170,000 (or £100,000) to two “audience-ready” projects. It was designed to “break down barriers” between creatives, according to a news release from CFC.

The prototypes include augmented reality (AR) projects Acorn (pictured), which follows how an acorn seed can grow into a tall oak tree, from the U.K.’s Chi Thai and Casey Koyczan of the Tlicho Dene First Nation; and Alone Together, which uses AI to simulate companionship, from Halifax’s Dustin Harvey and the U.K.’s Jon Meggitt.

Rounding out the prototypes are virtual reality (VR) project Gloaming, which mixes VR with live performance from remote locations, from Vancouver’s Athomas Goldberg and the U.K.’s Leonie Rae Gasson and Dave Lynch; and spatial audio project Radio Ghost, which is inspired by the Japanese concept of spirits inhabiting objects, from Montreal’s Lynn Hughes, Yemen/U.K. artist Persis Jadé Maravala and Brazil/U.K. artist Jorge Lopes Ramos.

The audience-ready projects include VR sci-fi comedy The Galaxicle Implosions from Winnipeg’s Rachael Hosein and the U.K.’s Fred Deakin; and Intravene, an immersive experience about the drug overdose crisis in Vancouver, from Canadian documentary filmmaker Brenda Longfellow and U.K. studio Darkfield.

The creators will also be part of the festival’s UK & Canadian XR Project Pitching Power Hour panel on March 14 to discuss the collaborative process of making the prototypes.

The UK-Canada Immersive Exchange is supported by the Canada Media Fund, the CFC Media Lab, the Canada Council for the Arts in Canada, as well as StoryFutures Academy, the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling and the Arts Council England in the U.K.

Image courtesy of CFC