Canada country of honour at World VR Forum 2018

Toronto, June 7, 2018 — Canada is the country of honour at World VR Forum, taking place in Crans-Montana, Switzerland from June 7 to 10. This annual summit brings together more than 4,000 experts, producers, artists, researchers, and private and public funders, participating in a conference, a competitive festival, and a market. Canada will be featured thanks to the support of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Creative BC, On Screen Manitoba and Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC).

“We’ve made a strategic decision to invest in an ever-growing number of VR projects as an important part of the funding we provide to Canadian digital media,” said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “The quality of Canadian VR is well-known around the world and we are proud to continue supporting Canadian creativity and innovation in immersive storytelling. Our support goes well beyond funding. It also includes promotion, access-to-market and generating business opportunities for Canadian creators, which is why we’re delighted to participate this year at the World VR Forum.”

World VR Forum enables professionals in the VR field to present their projects and find new business partners, offers a variety of panel discussions, pitching sessions, presentations by international creators, and screenings of selected films.

Spotlight on Canada’s VR industry

The Canadian delegation to the World VR Forum, consisting of five internationally-renowned and award-winning VR studios, will join thousands of international industry professionals and decision-makers in the innovative immersive content production field. The Canadian creators who will form the delegation are, Emmanuel Albano of La boîte à insultes (iBox); Flavio Carde of Imagine360; Laura Mingail of Secret Location; Heather Phenix and Dirk Van Girkel of Jam3; and Jeff Ross of MasterpieceVR.

Members of the Canadian delegation will participate in a panel on funding immersive content. Canada will also host a reception and a stand promoting Canadian VR and the innovation of Canadian creators in the field of immersive storytelling.   

After the great success of the second edition of Atelier Grand Nord realité virtuelle (AGN RV), which was held in Montreal in November 2017, SODEC will contribute to the activities planned as part of Canada's Country of Honour by organizing the follow-up to AGN RV before the World VR Forum. This participation offers great opportunities for future development and collaboration for the seven Francophone projects represented at World VR Forum, and reinforces the influence of Montréal and Québec in this innovative field. The Québec participants at AGN RV are Patricia Bergeron (Leitmotiv), Émilie Bernard, Serge Bordeleau (Nadagam films), Cédric Corbeil (Nadagam films), Svet Doytchinov (Yantra Films), Ghassan Fayad (KNGFU), Élizabeth Laferrière, Julia Salles (Silex Créations), Colas Wohlfahrt (KNGFU) and Nicolas S. Roy (Dpt.) who will participate as an expert in the field and Audrey Pacart (Very Story) who will moderate a session.

About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca.

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Media enquiries:

André Ferreira 
Communications Manager 
Canada Media Fund
416-554-2768
[email protected]