NFF Presents HEFT for the Preservation of Immersive Experiences

03 February 2026

The Netherlands Film Festival is joining forces with a broad consortium of creators and institutions to secure the future of immersive media through the project Heritage for the Future (HEFT): cultural embodied XR experiences. The initiative, in collaboration with coordinator and lead partner Beeld & Geluid, Eye Filmmuseum, Utrecht School of the Arts, and the University of Amsterdam, is supported by a grant of 1.3 million euros from the Artistic & Design Research for Immersive Experiences (ADRIE) program.

Within this two-year project, the consortium is researching methods to sustainably develop Immersive Experiences (IX), including VR and XR, and to preserve them as cultural heritage. HEFT combines artistic and practice-oriented research with the development and testing of new immersive artworks. Creators play a central role in this: they use their own creative processes as research by designing, prototyping, and testing new immersive works with audiences. In this way, the partners are building a solid foundation for these media forms, ensuring they can be preserved, shared, and experienced in the long term.

“Within the Digital Culture Program of the Netherlands Film Festival, we introduce the public to the best productions from the Netherlands and support creators in their development. The HEFT consortium offers us a wonderful opportunity to further explore the power of immersive stories in close collaboration with creators, the public, and researchers. In doing so, HEFT will make an exciting contribution to the Digital Culture Program Storyspace over the next two years.”

- Paulien Dresscher, Digital Culture Curator at the Netherlands Film Festival.

Immersive experiences are increasingly gaining international recognition at festivals and in museums. They allow audiences to experience stories spatially and sensorially from different perspectives. Yet there is currently no coordinated approach to the preservation and reuse of these complex productions. With the HEFT project, we aim to contribute to a future-proof Immersive Experience ecosystem.

Three pillars for the future

Three interrelated activities are central to HEFT:

Storytelling with IX: Research into how immersive forms contribute to new narratives.
Preservation and management: Developing frameworks for documentation and sustainable access to IX works.
Reuse of heritage: Utilizing media heritage as a source for new immersive experiences.

Creators and partners at the helm

An essential part of HEFT is the close collaboration with creators. In so-called “living labs,” they experiment together with the consortium partners on new forms of dramaturgy and audience engagement. At the same time, methods for preservation and scalability are tested, ensuring their work remains accessible to future generations.

About the consortium

HEFT: Cultural Embodied Cultural XR Experiences is part of the ADRIE program of the Creative Industries Fund NL within the Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC). The consortium is led by Beeld & Geluid and also includes the Eye Film Museum, the Netherlands Film Festival, the Utrecht School of the Arts, and the University of Amsterdam. The participating creators are Studio Nergens (Celine Daemen), Studio ZZZAP (Nienke Huitenga Broeren), Richard Vijgen, Nullshima Studio (Anne Fehres & Luke Conroy), and Satore Studio (Tupac Martir).

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