The Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS) was founded in 2015 by Keram Malicki-Sanchez and technical director Joseph Ellsworth in Toronto, Canada. The festival emerged as Canada’s first dedicated virtual and augmented reality stories festival, focusing exclusively on narrative experiences in immersive media.
The festival was designed to coincide with TIFF – the Toronto International Film Festival – the world’s largest, and similarly represent works from the international market, but solely focused on spatial and immersive works.
FIVARS established several industry firsts: it became Canada’s first 100% virtual reality stories festival, the world’s first augmented reality stories festival, the first festival to publicly exhibit “Manslaughter” (billed as the world’s first virtual reality feature film), and the first virtual reality festival to be officially listed on WithoutABox.com, Amazon’s marketplace for filmmakers to submit works to festivals.
The festival’s mission centers on encouraging viewers to connect with stories in emerging narrative forms while challenging content creators to showcase ideas that defy and transcend the status quo.
Early Years (2015-2017)
FIVARS began with preview screenings at Camp Wavelength music festival in August 2015—notably, Camp Wavelength was the first music festival to allow overnight camping on Toronto Island.
The inaugural festival took place September 20-21, 2015, at UG3 Live in downtown Toronto, with additional showcases at Metro Hall and the city’s civic rotunda. The festival announced its first People’s Choice Awards at the Cadillac Lounge on September 21.
In 2016, the festival expanded its presence with preview events at the VRTO Virtual & Augmented Reality World Conference & Expo at historic Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto in June (part of the ProFusion show with over 12,000 attendees) and returned to Camp Wavelength in August.
The sold-out three-day main festival ran September 16-18 at MSMU Studios, a furniture warehouse in west Toronto, featuring over 30 selections enhanced by haptic backpacks and a custom 3D audio chamber. Jessy Blaze joined Malicki-Sanchez as co-producer.
The 2017 edition, held at House of VR in Toronto’s arts district, ran for three sold-out days and showcased 35 pieces from 18 countries, most of which were world or North American premieres. The festival attracted international visitors and industry figures including distributors and technology companies.
This year marked the introduction of the Grand Jury Prize and Impact Award alongside the existing People’s Choice categories. FIVARS facilitated industry connections by introducing five of its 2017 selections for inclusion in the Samsung Developer’s Conference showcase in San Francisco.
Venue Evolution (2018-2019)
In 2018, FIVARS moved to the historic Matador Ballroom, which reopened specifically for the festival weekend after years of closure. The three-day experience (September 14-16) featured 36 pieces from 12 countries, showcasing world premieres and cutting-edge technologies including the Horror Dungeon set in the old Matador basement, Looking Glass holographic display, and Magic Leap experiences. Stephanie Greenall took over as co-producer. The festival showed the first global screen of “Battlescar, part 1.”
For its fifth anniversary in 2019, the festival relocated to the Toronto Media Arts Centre (“TMAC”), expanding to six galleries and presenting 31 selections from 10 countries. Malicki-Sanchez continued working with co-producer Stephanie Greenall. The program included panels featuring industry figures from AMD, Liquid Cinema VR, and other technology companies. Additional award categories were introduced for Experience Design, Visual Design, and Audio Design.
Digital Transformation (2020-2021)
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prompted FIVARS to develop an online platform. Working with JanusWeb developer James Baicoianu, the festival created a WebXR theater system capable of delivering high-definition stereoscopic spherical video through web browsers without buffering delays.
This technological development laid groundwork for ongoing virtual event capabilities. The online festival featured 39 selections from 16 countries, produced by Malicki-Sanchez and Greenall.
In 2021, FIVARS introduced a dual-event structure with “FIVARS in FEB” and “FIVARS in FALL.” The fall event became a hybrid model, combining in-person exhibitions in West Hollywood (October 15-17) with online WebXR presentations (October 22-November 2).
The festival implemented strict COVID-19 safety protocols including medical-grade sanitization from Cleanbox, body temperature check, masks and health verification requirements. An eco-friendly, proof-of-stake NFT exhibit showcased a selection of international digital artists from the CleanNFT and hic et nunc communities. It featured works by Sutu and Michelle Brown (aka The Bad Lament) among others, and was co-curated by Melody Owen (aka Pearl Hyacinth).
Panelists at the festival interviewed by Malicki-Sanchez included director Brett Leonard, John Canning, Lucas Risotto, Christina Heller, Joanna popper and more.
Technological Innovation (2022-2024)
In 2022, Aimee Reynolds joined as co-producer, taking over from Stephanie Greenall who had served in the role from 2018-2022. FIVARS continued refining its technical capabilities, upgrading to 5.7k resolution spherical video playback in browsers by 2022. The festival established pop-up viewing locations at venues including Two-Bit Circus in Los Angeles, and Dark Slope Studios, and Stackt marketplace in Toronto.
The 2022 fall edition featured over 65 selections from 25 countries, representing over 24 hours of content. Notable presentations included world premieres of works in VRChat and multi-part international productions. The festival participated in the first public Metatr@versal Portal Crawl, an initiative focused on Web3D interoperability operated by Ben Erwin.
The festival showed for five days in-person at the IDFK gallery in Toronto’s Queen Street Arts district.
Continuing into 2023 and beyond, Reynolds has continued the festival’s mission alongside Malicki-Sanchez of showcasing innovative immersive storytelling. FIVARS continued to present in-person exhibitions at the IDFK gallery in Toronto’s Queen Street Arts district in both 2023 and 2024.
In 2025, FIVARS came together with the VRTO Spatial Media World Conference under the same roof for the first time since 2016. The two-day location-based FIVARS event takes place at the OCAD University campus directly across from the VRTO exhibition hall, bringing the best XR in the world together under one roof. As of 2025, the FIVARS online festival celebrates its fifth year of virtual programming and ninth online event.
Recognition and Expansion
Throughout its evolution, FIVARS has received industry recognition, including nominations for Event of the Year and Innovator of the Year at the Poly Awards, which acknowledge excellence in WebXR development. The festival has been featured multiple times on Kent Bye’s Voices of VR podcast, including episodes on WebXR delivery systems (#957: “How FIVARS Festival is Using WebXR to Deliver 360 Video), immersive story curation (#1009: Curating Immersive Stories & Building WebXR Events with FIVARS Founder Keram Malicki-Sánchez), and the broader XR ecosystem (#1271: Indie Immersive Narratives at FIVARS & the Fragility of XR Creation, Distribution, & Open Source Ecosystems). The festival has consistently served as a platform for world premieres and has facilitated connections between creators, distributors, and technology companies.
The FIVARS Awards
The festival awards include People’s Choice prizes for both Interactive and Immersive (Passive) categories, along with juried awards for technical achievement, design excellence, and social impact. FIVARS has showcased works from over 70 countries and continues to operate as both a discovery platform for emerging talent and a showcase for technological innovation in immersive storytelling.
Team and Contributors
FIVARS is led by founder Keram Malicki-Sanchez and includes current team members Aimee Reynolds, Chrissy Aitchison, Elizabeth Fimio, Zulima Wesso, and James Baicoianu. The festival website is designed and maintained by Ben Cross.
The festival has grown through the contributions of many volunteers and collaborators, including Joseph Ellsworth (original technical director), Jessy Blaze, Candace Steinberg, Meg D’acosta, Sarah Bradley, Elvira Sanchez de Malicki, Toya Sanchez Jankowski, Marek Malicki, Adriel Malicki-Sanchez, Gibrian Malicki-Sanchez, Corina Death, Rory Wicks, Yoka Makaewa, Jason Spanu, Adam Fimio, Jeffrey Lynn Damon, Laura Bunce, Sappho Hansen Smythe, Rachel Mackenzie, Rorik Henrickson, Michael Hoang, Flynn Dauntless, kiisti Mastuo, Samira Soltani, Eshita Kala, Drashti Pandya, and many other partners and volunteers.
FIVARS is a produced by Constant Change Media Group, Inc., and its partner event VRTO.
- Check out FIVARS trailers, events, talks, interviews (FIVARS Official YouTube Channel)
- Learn more about FIVARS on Wikipedia
Art Credits
- FIVARS 2018 Owl art created in VR by Vladimir Ilic. All rights reserved.
- FIVARS 2019 Owl by Victoria Nieto