Letters from Drancy

Director: Darren Emerson

Year: 2022

A multi-sensory joyride into the past, bringing to life the stories of the promoters, police officers, and rave-goers, whose rivalries and relationships drove a revolution in music and society. Multi-sensory room-scale interactive VR enables participants to feel the anticipation, trepidation, excitement, and euphoria that was Acid House. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2022 Official Selection IDFA 2022 - Winner, DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction Official Selection SXSW Film Festival 2023 - XR Experience Spotlight Official Selection Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2025

Director: Darren Emerson

Year: 2019

An interactive VR documentary about the history and legacy of the Aylesbury Estate, the largest housing estate in Europe. Utilising 360 video, photogrammetry, 3D modelling, archive and interactive design, this VR documentary allows the audience to explore the estate and meet residents fighting regeneration. Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2019 - Tribeca Immersive - World premiere

Director: Siobhan Silén

Year: 2027

An animated VR short inspired by autistic musician Jen Msumba, who defies a system designed to erase her through synaesthetic music-making. It explores the universal need to be accepted for who we are. Participants journey through Jen’s life, from childhood, when the world feels confusing and “wonky”. Music is her safety and compass. While others read notes on a page, Jen sees visual maps that help her express emotions and navigate uncertainty. As a teenager, Jen’s mother becomes ill and her anxiety overwhelms her. Years of psychiatric institutions and medication leave her sedated, unable to play instruments. Her family sends her to the Judge Rotenberg Center, whose practices will later be described by the United Nations as torture. Over seven years of confinement and painful electric shocks, Jen is taught to believe she is “wrong”. Secretly composing music in her head becomes her refuge. Realising the centre will not support her independence, Jen writes to a judge and wins her freedom. She rediscovers music and invites us into her musical map, where participants touch and transform notes through movement, shifting melodies from classical to punk rock. We end with Jen performing on stage.