LONDON.- To celebrate the opening of LFF Expanded, the 64th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American Express has today announced that it will be holding an official opening ceremony on Thursday 8th October at 7.30 – 8.15pm where attendees will have a first-look at the festival’s virtual museum and event space, THE EXPANSE.

The opening ceremony will feature speakers Ben Roberts (BFI Chief Executive), Tricia Tuttle (Festivals Director, BFI) and Ulrich Schrauth (XR and Immersive Programmer, BFI London Film Festival), and to celebrate LFF Expanded’s new partnership with The National Theatre, Toby Coffey (Head of Digital Development, NT) will also be in attendance.




As announced earlier this week, LFF Expanded will present a number of original and thought-provoking panel discussions and talks around the medium of VR as well as some very special opportunities to meet the artists and explore pioneering new works including FUTURE RITES & CHAOTIC BODY 1, where acclaimed choreographer Alexander Whitley will give an insight into two of his upcoming immersive dance projects; ARTIST TALK: BRAVE NEW WORLD with the artists behind Agence (Anna West and David Callahan) and To Miss the Ending (Pietro Gagliano) – two very different projects dealing with the dystopian possibilities of Artificial Intelligence; explore Baff Akoto’s poetic work LEAVE THE EDGES in the virtual auditorium and listen to the artist talk about his artistic practice, which combines film and immersive technology and ANTI-GONE, offering audiences the chance to experience a new way of hybrid virtual theatre-making in this extraordinary performance by multi-media artist Theo Triantafyllidis.

It is also a huge privilege to welcome the London-based artist and designer Es Devlin to talk about her ground-breaking work in an LFF EXPANDED SCREEN TALK, and THE IMMERSIVE ART REVOLUTION sees Rufus Norris, Director and Joint Chief Executive of the National Theatre, Nell Whitley, Executive Producer at Marshmallow Laser Feast and Jane Alison, Head of Visual Arts, Barbican, join BBC journalist and presenter Razia Iqbal to discuss the future of the immersive art sector.

CHILL OUT – EXPANSIVELY will also offer audiences a moment to unwind after the busy first weekend of BFI London Film Festival in THE EXPANSE – guests can listen to some chill-out music and exchange their impressions, thoughts and findings of the first days with other visitors, industry colleagues and filmmakers. It’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on the works seen during the last few days and connect with other like-minded festivalgoers.

LFF Expanded is the festival’s new dedicated strand of XR and Immersive Art and will be open throughout the BFI London Film Festival (7-18 October 2020). You can view the full programme here.