Disguise powers debut of virtual production at Cannes Film Festival

The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival hosted, for the very first time, a virtual production space powered by Disguise – marking a new milestone in virtual production’s expansion into the European film and television industry.

Talent-led film and television group Film Soho, partnered up with Disguise, ROE Visual, global Film and TV production solutions provider CVP and content studio ZOAN to showcase a state-of-the-art virtual production stage in the garden of the Grand Hotel in Cannes - which hosted many of Cannes Festival’s A-list participants. 

Visitors were able to step into a virtual production volume, powered by Disguise and become fully immersed into rich environments such as expansive city scapes and lush Icelandic country scenes - all designed in Unreal Engine and Notch by ZOAN. Visitors dropped by the space during the festival to receive demonstrations of the technology. 

The Disguise team also hosted an exclusive drinks reception featuring welcome remarks from Disguise CXO Alex Wills, where he shared an insight into the virtual production landscape and future opportunities in the metaverse with Disguise.

Powered by Disguise’s award-winning extended reality (xR) workflow for virtual production, the stage was made possible with the support of industry-leading LED technology from ROE Visual, camera tracking from Ncam and CVP’s Technical Team providing consultation during pre-build and on-site for camera solutions and tracking systems. 

“Disguise was so excited to support Film Soho in bringing the vast possibilities of virtual production to the Cannes Film Festival and truly connecting with the innovative and disruptive qualities that both the festival, the international filmmaking community and Disguise represents. Disguise xR, combined with powerful graphics supported by Unreal Engine, empowers filmmakers to let their creativity run wild and tell more compelling stories than ever before. We hope that, by seeing these technologies up-close at the stage we have set up with Film Soho, filmmakers got a taste of what the new era of film will look like,” says Disguise CEO, Fernando Küfer.

Disguise also participated in a Cannes Next panel discussion on ‘Europe as a Global Leader in Virtual Production, Visionaries, Platforms and Studios' at the Marina Stage (Riviera). Disguise CXO Alex Wills, together with experts from VRT, ZOAN, FNF and Nordisk Film Shortcut, explored how virtual production is shaping Europe’s film and series production. Together discussed whether the cost-cutting and creative benefits of virtual production will extend beyond blockbuster films into independent filmmaking.

Nick Hamson and Chris Greenhill, Founders of Film Soho commented “Film Soho are excited to launch at the end of this year, the first ever virtual production stage in the heart of Soho. As a talent and production-led company it made perfect sense for us to incorporate virtual production into our filmmaking offering. We are delighted to have been able to showcase this incredible technology to the international filmmaking community in Cannes.”

This monumental showcase represented a crucial step in the Disguise virtual production roadmap to democratise VP workflows globally. Disguise’s newly appointed Vice President of Virtual Production, Addy Ghani, is further democratising Disguise as the go-to production standard that simplifies workflows for Film Directors, Producers and Directors of Photography - heralding in a new era of film production. Participating in Cannes Film Festival is one example of the exciting initiatives Disguise has planned for the virtual production space. Others include investing in leading talent and creating experimentation spaces dedicated to virtual production and training in several locations around the world. 

Learn more about why virtual production marks the next era in film