New Media
For professionals involved in immersive and interactive media, such as artists, creative technologists, curators, researchers, and producers, the future of the field is shaped by pioneers working in diverse disciplines. IDFA DocLab, is helping to lead the way forward by showcasing, researching and developing the best interactive documentary art and storytelling since 2007.
Hakeem Adam in conversation with Janine Steele at the R&D Summit. Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, 13 November 2022.
Submit your project
Through our year-round living lab, all projects and participants contribute to our growing ecosystem of research and development. Artists have the opportunity to participate through three annual open calls, which both open up during the first half of the year. We welcome entries of all sorts of non-fiction artworks that use emerging media to represent reality, including web experiences, digital art, games, audio experiences, immersive experiences VR, AR, physical installations, live performances, and immersive theater.
We also encourage submissions of performances/live projects that combine documentary film elements with music, theater, dance, and/or emerging media. Project submissions will be considered for IDFA DocLab, IDFA on Stage, and other program sections that explore different ways of showcasing documentary art.
Discover IDFA's innovative DocLab program showcasing interactive documentaries, exhibitions, live events, fulldome screenings, installations, and more. Visit IDFA Institute for details.
IDFA DocLab R&D Program
IDFA DocLab has become a key international platform for new talent, artistic innovation, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Meanwhile, new developments in immersive technology—like virtual reality, as well as AR and AI—have introduced explosive new opportunities. But as new immersive consumer devices are being introduced to the masses, key questions still exist around how to successfully live up to the true potential of immersive media.
In 2018, IDFA DocLab launched an R&D Progam in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Open Documentary Lab), among other partners, to expand the festival into a living lab for artistic experimentation, research, and development across disciplines. Currently in it's sixth year, the program focusses on specific research questions that arise from developments in the field.
Kristine Is Not Well (2022) - Seeyam Quine
DocLab R&D Summit
An integral component of the research program is the R&D Summit, a think tank event for experts from all corners of the interactive and immersive storytelling industry to explore next steps in developing the medium. The program presents information gained from research, case studies, prototypes, and demos of interactive and immersive storytelling experiments in progress, and cross-sector expert meetings.
For a recap of the previous two years of the R&D Summit check out the following articles:
2022 Highlights from the IDFA DocLab R&D Summit Creative Exchange
2021 Creative Exchange: The IDFA DocLab R&D Summit 2021 in retrospect
Raul Balai in conversation with Janine Steele at the R&D Summit. Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, 13 November 2022.
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