15/05/2026 - CANNES 2026: Three prominent industry figures have come together for a panel on the future of immersive documentaries, particularly how best to distribute them

l-r: Eleanor Whitley, Paul Bouchard and Caspar Sonnen during the panel (© Michaël Jan)

Immersive storytelling – VR experiences, installations and exhibitions – may not at first seem compatible with documentary filmmaking, but on day 2 of the Cannes Marché du Film, three prominent figures in the current landscape of immersive media came together for a panel on the future of immersive documentaries, particularly how best to distribute them. The event was moderated by Mathieu Gayet, immersive marketing manager for the Cannes Marché and founder of XRMust.com, and the panellists included Eleanor Whitley, managing director of the UK’s Marshmallow Laser Feast; Caspar Sonnen, head of New Media for International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA); and Paul Bouchard, head of Acquisitions and Business Development at French virtual-reality company Diversion.

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The panel, entitled “Immersive Talk – The Importance of Documentaries in Immersive Distribution”, started with the three panellists outlining the initiatives and creative focuses of their respective companies. The output of Whitley’s Marshmallow Laser Feast revolves around the natural world, creating immersive experiences that allow audiences to better understand the various flora and fauna of the Earth. Sonnen began the DocLab of IDFA in 2007, during the advent of the internet and video-sharing websites like YouTube, as he wanted to embrace the online world as “documentary art” and capitalise on the internet for distribution opportunities. He is hopeful for the distribution of immersive media, as he noted that 15 years ago, arthouse cinemas were uninterested in showing new experiences, but today, that has changed.

While the topic of AI is still met with controversy throughout Cannes as a whole, Sonnen was quick to acknowledge that while many believe it is destroying the world, it is also creating new opportunities for filmmakers, mentioning Piotr Winiewicz’s About a Hero, a movie made by AI trained on the work of Werner Herzog, which opened the 2024 IDFA. Bouchard’s Diversion celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and he called back to one of their first acquisitions, a documentary entitled The Real Thing, a 360° VR experience that brings together Europe’s most iconic streets and places them in Shanghai. 

Both Bouchard and Whitley were quick to question whether they could call themselves documentarians; however, all three panellists agreed on dismissing the definitions that limit storytelling, such as style, genre and, particularly, the labels of fiction or non-fiction. Sonnen preferred the term “perception art”, as it “places the viewer in a position of questioning our own perception through media”. Sonnen also quoted Werner Herzog, who famously said that there is no distinction between fiction and non-fiction – it’s all just cinema. “If you expand your documentary definition, that is the trick to understanding why there is so much documentary in this space,” said Sonnen. All three panellists agreed that instead of genre, what really matters is that artists are transparent in their creative initiative and how they are presenting their reality. 

Despite the three panellists being hesitant to allow their work to be easily defined by such categorisations as style and genre, Sonnen noted how most mediums begin with documentary, and immersive media is no different. All new technologies start out by capturing the world around them, and with every new innovation in technology, people tend to go back to the beginning – back to documentary. 

The discussion ended with the topic of using immersive storytelling for educational purposes, a prospect at which all three panellists displayed hesitation. Whitley said that she does not ever want to be didactic in her work, instead allowing audiences to think expansively. Bouchard warned of the dangers that educational immersive media could create in terms of “pushing some versions of history”. They concluded that it is not about artists controlling a certain narrative, but putting the viewer in a position of wonder and community.