Belfast XR Festival 2026 wants us to Escape the Internet

Belfast XR Festival is back for a short run this November, bringing two of the most talked-about works in international immersive experiences to The Black Box on 2nd and 3rd November, presented as part of Belfast Film Festival.

Leading this year’s programme is Escape the Internet, created by director Lucas Rizzotto, built with Pete Cybriwsky and presented in partnership with IDFA DocLab. This is a new immersive work in a genre all of its own, one that shatters the fourth wall and takes audience interaction to the next level. Up to one hundred participants come together in a room to solve a shared problem: Everyone is infected with terminal brainrot, and an algorithmic AI demon can possess them at any moment. Working together with a live compere on interactive set pieces and evading colourful monsters, this experience is equal parts massive multiplayer game and fascinating social experiment, but all incredible fun.  

The work has previously been presented at SXSW and Tribeca Film Festival, and the Belfast showings are an exclusive preview ahead of its European premiere in Amsterdam later in November, presented here in partnership with IDFA DocLab. It is the first opportunity for audiences in Ireland or the UK to take part.

Director of Belfast XR Festival, Deepa Mann-Kler said:

"Belfast XR Festival has a track record of bringing work to Belfast that people are still talking about for months afterwards. Last year that was In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, an interactive rave that had audiences coming out buzzing, and this year it is Escape the Internet. This will be one of those nights people ask each other, ‘Were you there?’ Escape the Internet is fun, fascinating, inventive and genuinely unlike anything else out there, which is exactly what Belfast XR Festival is all about."

Matthew Malcolm, Creative Industries Development Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, added, “Deepa Mann-Kler and the team at Belfast XR have a strong track record of bringing highly acclaimed artists and experiences to Northern Ireland, proudly supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland through National Lottery funding. Escape the Internet is an unmissable, unique experience involving audience interaction and collaboration, for people visiting Belfast this autumn to immerse themselves in at the Black Box. This is a fantastic example of the digital projects the Arts Council is committed to funding through our strategy to better support the sector to develop through experimentation and innovation.”

Running alongside Escape the Internet on Monday 2 November is The Baby Factory is Closed, written and directed by Deepa Mann-Kler and produced by Eva Robinson of Aura Digital Studios, which had its world premiere in competition at SXSW 2026 and has since enjoyed a successful run at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The twenty-minute single-player virtual reality work, with an original score by Northern Irish composer Katie Richardson, will run in the Green Room at The Black Box from 10am to 4pm, and places are strictly limited.

The public programme sits alongside a number of industry sessions for students and established or aspiring producers working in games design and film production, with the speaker lineup to be confirmed shortly.

Michele Devlin, Chief Executive of Belfast Film Festival, said: 

"Belfast Film Festival is here to bring the best of international cinema to Belfast, and that includes work that pushes narrative somewhere new. We are delighted to be collaborating with Belfast XR Festival on two experiences that do exactly that."

Belfast XR Festival is made possible with the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Future Screens NI, Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network, Immersive Arts, Eirmersive, Digital Catapult NI, Nerve Centre and Belfast Film Festival.

Booking available through the Belfast Film Festival website at belfastfilmfestival.org

Escape the Internet
Venue: The Black Box, Belfast

Dates: Monday 2 November, 7pm
Tuesday 3 November, 2pm and 7pm
Tickets: £15, with ten per cent off bookings of four or more

Runtime: 120 minutes

Guidance: 18+ only

The Baby Factory is Closed
Venue: The Green Room, The Black Box, Belfast

Dates: Monday 2 November, 10am to 4pm

Tickets: £7, numbers strictly limited.

Runtime: 20 minutes, suitable 16+

Guidance: Suitable for ages 16+