Announced: LFF Expanded programme of immersive art, extended reality and gaming works

The 68th BFI London Film Festival (9 to 20 October) in partnership with American Express is excited to announce the line-up for LFF Expanded, the festival’s programme of immersive art and extended reality works, running from 11 to 27 October 2024. The BFI London Film Festival celebrates the moving image in all its forms, from shorts and features to television, immersive and, for the very first time, video games. 

LFF Expanded invites audiences to explore and experience powerful new ways of telling stories on screen. Featuring leading British and international filmmakers, artists, and creative teams, including Liam Young, Adrien M & Claire B, Anagram, Darkfield, Memo Akten & Katie Peyton Hofstadter and Hatsumi, this year’s programme offers audiences a range of approaches to storytelling at the cutting edge of screen technology.

Central to the LFF Expanded programme will be five major installations presented at Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf, BFI Southbank, BFI IMAX and Outernet London:

• Impulse: Playing with Reality is a groundbreaking installation from UK studio Anagram, narrated by Tilda Swinton and informed by 100+ hours of interviews. Combining Mixed Reality and engaging gameplay, the work playfully explores Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, providing a deeper insight into ADHD while raising important questions about how we perceive and engage with neurodiversity (venue: Bargehouse).

• Arcade is a major immersive audio installation from Darkfield, set inside a shipping container and presented in near total darkness. Combining spatial sound and sensory effects with the nostalgic aesthetic of 1980s video games, it narrative explores the evolving relationship between players and avatars, as audiences set out on an interactive quest that asks deep questions about free will and consciousness (venue: BFI Southbank).

• Presented in partnership with Outernet London – the largest digital exhibition space in Europe, with floor to ceiling, 360-degree screens across its four-storey building – The Great Endeavour by Liam Young is an inspiring cinematic experience that envisions a future where we achieve planetary transformation through coming together to remove carbon from the atmosphere (venue: Outernet London).

• Last Minute is a captivating projection mapping installation from artists Adrien M and Claire B. Inspired by Claire B’s personal experiences of grief and pregnancy, Last Minute captures the concept of the minute just before death and just before birth, inviting audiences on a collective immersive journey through a hypnotising universe of music, light and interactive projections (venue: Bargehouse).

• Superradiance. Embodying Earth by Memo Akten and Katie Peyton Hofstadter, presented in partnership with Digital Body Festival London, is a multiscreen video and sound installation that combines AI with dance to provoke and nurture strong connections to the global ecosystems of which we are a part (venue: BFI IMAX).

In addition to the major installations, LFF Expanded will also present an exciting programme of free activity taking place at Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf, in the heart of London’s South Bank. For the very first time at the BFI London Film Festival, video games will be showcased via an interactive Games Lounge, featuring five fun and creative projects for audiences to play for free:

• A Highland Song – follow the journey of protagonist Moira McKinnon, as she navigates the mysteries of the Scottish Highlands.

• Playing Kafka – the definitive Franz Kafka videogame, based on his life and work.

• Paper Trail – join Paige, a budding academic, as she untangles the puzzle of a foldable, paper world.

• Dome King Cabbage – an award-winning psychedelic visual novel about a cloud-person named Mush making their way to interview for the role of ‘Dome King’.

• Closer the Distance – a deeply moving slice-of-life simulation in which players help a community to overcome collective grief in the face of a tragedy.

There will also be a programme of four free XR works at Bargehouse that explore how virtual and mixed reality can offer new perspectives on physical and mental health:

• Based on artist Tara Baoth Mooney’s own experience of cancer treatment, Mammary Mountain invites audience members to take on the role of breast cancer patients.

• Emperor by Marion Burger tells a poetic, interactive story of a father diagnosed with aphasia, bringing to life he and his daughter’s struggle to communicate.

• Sitting at the nexus of technology and healthcare, Soul Paint by Hatsumi is an immersive journey, narrated by actor Rosario Dawson, in which audiences can explore and express their emotions and bodily sensations through body mapping, 3D drawing and movement.

• Stim Cinema is a work co-created by The Neurocultures Collective and artist-filmmaker Steven Eastwood, which investigates the joy of repetitive stimming behaviours that are a common trait of the autistic experience, connecting delight in repetition to the birth of cinema.

The LFF Expanded programme is complemented by events, including an engaging conversation on ADHD and gaming at Science Gallery from the team behind Impulse: Playing with Reality. Across the programme, curated by the BFI London Film Festival’s XR and Immersive Programme Lead, Ulrich Schrauth, audiences are invited to let their curiosity reign supreme and go beyond the limits of their imagination.

“This year’s LFF Expanded programme harnesses the most innovative and imaginative digital technologies,” said Schrauth, “from projection mapping and mixed reality to immersive audio and AI and, for the first time, I’m excited that the programme will present games. The works shine a spotlight on the intersection between healthcare and technology, telling vivid personal stories, celebrating the power of play and platforming breathtaking immersive experiences at the very forefront of screen technology.”

“LFF Expanded has become integral to the LFF experience,” added Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, “and I invite audiences to go to the limits of their imagination and beyond with the programme this year.”

The BFI London Film Festival is the UK’s foremost celebration of screen culture that invites audiences to engage with the finest filmmaking talents from our shores and around the world. Each year, the Festival presents a compelling programme of more than 200 features, shorts, series and XR works to audiences at venues across London, while a selection of the films also screen at partner cinemas across the UK.