French Immersion

French professionals

French Immersion is a program initiated by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and developed to support emerging and innovative French creators.

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and FACE Foundation, in partnership with UniFrance, the Institut Français, the CNC, launched this program in 2018 to support producers and creators of VR projects and immersive experiences including 360 videos, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR or XR), video games, location-based VR projects and art projects involving new technologies.

Terms and conditions

Eligible projects:

Virtual reality (VR) experiences
Augmented reality (AR) experiences
Mxed reality (MR) experiences
360° videos
Interactive experiences produced for desktop or mobile (e.g. mobile apps, interactive movies)

Funding from the grant is eligible to cover the following costs:

Trailer production
Influencer promotion
Services from a communications agency specializing in social media
Social media ads
Online event production

For any costs not listed above, the jury will examine their relevance to the online promotion of an immersive work when awarding funding.

Grant amount: $1,000-$2,000

Timeline: The promotion must be finished within one year of the grant being awarded.

Application deadline: July 16th, 12am ET (New York time)

Application: To apply, please fill out this form.

To receive more information about American influencers, communications agencies, or event organization platforms or with further questions about the grant, please contact Emma Buttin at emma.buttin@frenchculture.org.

French Immersion brings French creators or producers to the US on the occasion of a screening or presentation of their work during a significant festival or program identified by the Cultural Services team. The cancellation of on-site American festivals questions promotion and distribution models for immersive works (XR). In this context, investing more on the distribution of XR works on platforms and their online promotion is a way to adapt and to continue sharing high quality French immersive experiences.

As our cultural practices become more and more digital—even more so during the pandemic —the promotion and distribution of media projects has been redefined. That is why, in September 2020, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy alongside the other French Immersion partners decided to launch a new grant to promote immersive experiences online. In 2020 alone, 15 projects received grants from the program.

This year, the program will continue with grants offered to French producers seeking to explore innovative strategies to promote and broadcast projects to American audiences through promotion on video game platforms, online events, influencer marketing, and more.

Please find the terms and conditions above.

More information about French Immersion.

FR//XR: a handbook for immersive producers

Following a 10-month piloting period, French Immersion partners and Kaleidoscope are pleased to present a handbook for immersive producers, highlighting insights from some of the most influential voices of the XR industry. It aims to inspire immersive producers to fund and distribute their content in different ways, reaching out to new partners, and introducing new collaboration and sales strategies.

The handbook includes an overview of the VR market in the US, an analysis of business models for immersive media, practical recommendations how to expand to the US market, interviews with industry leaders and a useful map of key actors in the North American XR industry.

Projets soutenus

2020

Atomu (Atlas V), Sundance
Sex Buyers (Sonia Delhaye), Impact Reality Summit
Space Out (Pierre Friquet), Sundance
Solastalgia (Providence), Sundance
The Key, Impact Reality Summit
Out There, Cinequest
Minimum Mass, TriBeca Film Festival

2019

-22,7°C (Zorba, Novelab), SXSW
Accused No.2 : Walter Sisulu (La Générale de Prod), Tribeca
Ayahuasca (Atlas V, Small Studio), Tribeca
Eclipse (Backlight), SXSW, Cinequest
Gloomy Eyes (Atlas V), Sundance
Mechanical Souls (Digital Rise), Sundance, SXSW
Seven Lives (Red Corner), Tribeca
Vectronom (Les Martingales) SXSW

2018

A Fisherman's Tale (Innerspace VR), Filmgate Miami
BattleScar (Atlas V), Tribeca Film Festival
Bury me, my love (The Pixel Hunt), Games for Change Festival
Firebird The Unfinished (InnerSpace VR), Tribeca Film Festival et Filmgate Miami
Gauguin's inner journey (Innerspace VR), Filmgate Miami
I Saw the Future VR (Innerspace VR), Colcoa
Isle of the Dead (Les Produits Frais), Filmgate Miami
Legacy (Les Produits Frais), Filmgate Miami
PLAY! (DV Group), Future of Storytelling
Summer (Bigger than Fiction), Filmgate Miami
The Horrifically Real Virtuality (DV Group, Diversion), Future of Storytelling
The Real Thing (ARTLINE FILMS), Future of Storytelling
Vestige (Atlas V), Tribeca Film Festival