ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CREATION OF QUEBEC/CANADA XR

2019 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL: 
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CREATION OF QUEBEC/CANADA XR 
A NEW QUEBEC INITIATIVE TO SUPPORT XR THROUGHOUT THE FRANCOPHONIE

Cannes, Friday, May 17, 2019 – As part of the Common Codes event at the Cannes Film Festival,  the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC), Xn Quebec, Phi Centre, MUTEK and the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) have announced this afternoon the creation of Quebec/Canada XR. The event, presented by the SODEC, took place in the presence of the honourable Mrs. Nathalie Roy, Minister of Culture and Communications, and Minister Responsible for the French Language. Also present were some of the biggest Quebec talents, including Felix & Paul Studios, Dpt. and Thierry Loa. This new initiative was developed to serve independent creators of XR (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality) in Quebec, in Canada and throughout the Francophonie. 

The goal of Quebec/Canada XR is to highlight these rising practices and to foster knowledge sharing, while creating an international and Francophone community of professionals. With that in mind, the team will collaborate with the Association Francophone de la XR (AFXR), a new entity resulting from the combination of UNI-XR and AFRV in France. A true think tank, Quebec/Canada XR aims to establish connections between the institutions and the key players of the sector, as well as with the education, journalism, museum, and arts circles in general.  

Among the common, concrete solutions proposed by Quebec/Canada XR: a platform of specialized content about the specific issues facing XR creators (e.g. new technologies, production challenges, best practices, case studies on distribution, broadcasting challenges, etc.), the implementation of a monitoring program to collect and centralize the information related to the industry, as well as a series of events featuring practical workshops, panels, conferences, and coproduction meetings. The first event of the series will happen during MUTEK, from August 20 to 22, 2019.

Also in development: a methodological charter for the creation of works, the definition of an ethics program, the design of evaluation tools, the implementation of lobby groups to defend the interests of the sector, and the creation of a matrix to collect information related to each XR experience in order to have a better vision of what works in the sector.

As of today, Quebec/Canada XR invites creators, producers and broadcasters to join the Slack discussion platform. Categories have been created to monitor calls for projects, upcoming events, and issues affecting creation, production, and broadcasting. All the better to foster discussions between professionals from the industry. Please contact [email protected] to be added to the discussion.  

Head to xnquebec.co/quebec-canada-xr to learn more.

This project has been made possible by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of Quebec.