Belfast XR Festival returns 2–3 November — a Future Audiences industry day plus two of the year’s most-talked-about immersive works

Belfast XR Festival is back at The Black Box and Digital Catapult on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 November 2026, presented as part of Belfast Film Festival. This year’s programme mixes a daytime industry strand with two headline immersive shows in the evenings.

The industry centrepiece is Future Audiences — a full day (11am–5pm, Monday 2 Nov) at Digital Catapult exploring how immersive technology, new ideas and collaboration can reshape the audiences of tomorrow. Aimed squarely at XR producers, artists, and studios.

The two evening shows are worth the trip alone:

• Escape the Internet (Mon 2 & Tue 3 Nov, 7pm, £15) — a massive multiplayer live game from viral immersive artist Lucas Rizzotto, where over a hundred audience members work together on their phones to escape an AI apocalypse. You can’t stream it; you have to be in the room.
• The Baby Factory Is Closed (Mon 2 Nov) — an award-winning 20-minute VR piece by Zara Truss-Gill, fresh from SXSW, Annecy and Manchester Animation Festival selections, putting you inside the body of a woman navigating menopause in a near-future surveillance state.

Book via belfastxrfestival.com/2026 — Future Audiences tickets are on Eventbrite.