Public Support Puts Montreal Interactive Studio in Driver’s Seat of XR Innovation
Ben Croll Of the seven XR projects selected for this year’s Quebec spotlight at the NewImages Festival, all but one originated from the Montreal Interactive Studio branch of Canada’s National Film Board (NFB). More than a victory lap for the French Canadian branch, this recent festival perch offered another testament to the benefits of public investment in a still-nascent artistic discipline. “Without public investment the business simply would not exist,” says Montreal Interactive Studio executive producer Louis-Richard Tremblay. “These are new tools, new mediums, so if no one is willing to take creative risks, the field wouldn’t be there. Public money allows us to create an entire ecosystem.”