Animated Immersive Experiences (CTBA)

Monday 09 Nov 2026 - 13:00
Manchester Central Library 1
Runtime: 480 mins (approx.)

A selection of the best in immersive animated content submitted to Manchester Animation Festival from around the world. VR and 360 films showcase brave new worlds for animation fans to explore.

This is a free un-ticketed event, just drop in!

Films in this programme

Panopticon

Dir. Martina Klánová // United Kingdom

Panopticon is a surreal 360° film. The cells in the panopticon prison are filled with vague shapes and living objects lurking in the shadows.

Being Gregor

Dir. Camiel Schouwenaar // Netherlands

Take on the life of Gregor Samsa, a weary salesman whose world unravels as he transforms from cherished family member into a hideous insect.

Dir. Deepa Mann-Kler // United Kingdom

You are not just in a game, you are inside a body. Not just any body: Zoraan’s. Her mind. Her muscles. Her memory. Everything you see, touch, hear is her. This is a living landscape, collapsing and fighting back. Zoraan is trapped inside her own body as it’s monitored, medicated and overwritten by systems of control, colonial, patriarchal and climate-driven. She’s not just the protagonist. She is the world. The baby factory is closed, but the fight is just beginning…

Home Street Home

Dir. Vaishnavi Paresh Laddha // India

A boy without a home, Bob desperately searches for a place to belong in a world where he’s not welcome.

Fallax

Dir. Owen Hindley // Iceland

An escaped prisoner, accompanied by a companion and getaway driver, flee prison deep into the Icelandic countryside. One night as they are hiding, the two others mysteriously vanish, and they are drawn by a glowing light into a hotspring. They are pulled into a space where time and nature move very differently, with natural forces taking on human form. Featuring motion captured aerial circus artists, this narrative short film explores Icelandic mythology from a new perspective.

Mirage

Dir. Naima Karim // Bangladesh, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia

Mirage is an interactive Virtual Reality storytelling experience of a young girl who is battling depression and anxiety. Set in a desert landscape, it is a metaphoric and stylized adaptation with visuals created by the artist Naima Karim’s painting style and lived experience with her daughter’s depression and anxiety.