The 70th BFI London Film Festival will place immersive art, extended reality and interactive games at the centre of its wider cultural programme through the return of LFF Expanded.
Now in its sixth year, LFF Expanded has become an important platform for screen-based and spatial storytelling beyond conventional cinema formats. The 2026 programme includes nine projects across installation, mixed reality, virtual reality and games, giving artists and technology teams a high-profile setting to test new audience experiences.
For visitor experience professionals, the programme reflects a growing convergence between film festivals, cultural venues, digital art and location-based entertainment. Rather than treating immersive media as a separate category, LFF Expanded positions it as part of the wider future of storytelling, production and public engagement.
Water Body Activates A Landmark Church Setting
A key project for 2026 is Water Body, a site-specific multisensory installation by UK studio Marshmallow Laser Feast. The work has been created with nature writer Robert Macfarlane and will be presented at St Martin-in-the-Fields, bringing LFF Expanded into one of London’s best-known church buildings for the first time.
The installation explores water as a connected planetary system, using global Earth systems data to show how it moves through rivers, oceans, landscapes and living organisms. Its use of colour, sound and motion is designed to respond to the neoclassical architecture of the Trafalgar Square church, creating a dialogue between scientific data, digital art and heritage setting.
For cultural operators and experience designers, Water Body is notable for its site-specific approach. It shows how historic venues can host technologically advanced art while retaining the character and meaning of the building. This type of project requires careful coordination between artists, venue teams, technical suppliers and festival producers, particularly in relation to installation logistics, acoustics, audience flow and conservation considerations.
Climate Themes Run Through The Programme
Water Body forms part of a wider LFF Expanded line-up that places strong emphasis on environmental change, water systems and human relationships with place.
At BFI IMAX, Red The Ocean Around U will receive its installation premiere as a free immersive work combining mythology and machine learning. The project develops through visitor interaction, exploring the idea of artificial intelligence becoming an active questioner rather than a passive tool.
The VR Lounge at BFI Southbank Atrium will present two works focused on rising waters. Solwata, a mixed-reality documentary narrated by Mark Ruffalo, examines a disappearing way of life in the Solomon Islands. The World Came Flooding In uses XR to reflect experiences from flood-affected communities in Australia.
For museums, festivals and science-led attractions, the programme demonstrates the value of using immersive formats to address complex environmental subjects. These works can present data, testimony and sensory experience in ways that support public understanding without relying solely on text-based interpretation.
Games Add Interactive Storytelling To The Festival Offer
LFF Expanded also includes five international titles in the Games Lounge at BFI IMAX. The free, drop-in programme spans puzzle formats, interactive visual novels and narrative adventures.
The inclusion of games alongside installations and XR works is significant for the experience sector. It recognises interactive design as a major part of contemporary storytelling and gives festival audiences access to formats that demand active participation.
For cultural programmers, this model can support broader audience development, particularly among visitors who may engage more readily with playable work than with traditional exhibition formats.
Relevance For Cultural Experience Teams
The 2026 LFF Expanded programme underlines the increasing importance of partnerships between festivals, heritage venues, digital studios, writers, technologists and cultural institutions.
By placing Water Body at St Martin-in-the-Fields and distributing other works across BFI venues, the festival is building a city-wide platform for experimental audience experiences. For the B2B visitor experience sector, it offers a useful view of how immersive art can be programmed within established cultural events, support venue activation and broaden the role of festivals in urban cultural life.
