Darren’s Bio

Darren Emerson is an Immersive Artist, Director, Writer and Producer and the Co-Founder of London production company East City Films. His work uses Virtual Reality to fuse cinema, theatre, music, interaction, immersion and embodiment to create works that focus on notions of community both structured and organic.

In 2015 Darren created his first VR experience Witness 360: 7/7 which was selected in competition at IDFA Doc Lab. In 2016, his VR documentary Indefinite won the Immersive Commission by Sheffield Doc/Fest, going on to be featured in a specially commissioned New York Times Op-Ed. In 2018 Darren was commissioned by Creative XR to create the room-scale documentary Common Ground, which won Best Immersive Storytelling at Sandbox Immersive Festival, the Grand Prix Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Best VR Experience at the Broadcast Awards, and Best VR Narrative at the World Press Photo Awards. In 2022 In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats launched at Coventry City of Culture with a 6-week sold out exhibition and won the award for Immersive Non-Fiction at IDFA Doclab, and Best Location Based Entertainment at the prestigious VR Awards 2023. The project continues to tour International Festivals and Galleries to rave reviews.

In 2023 Darren served as Creative Director for 3 VR experiences commissioned by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. He also directed one of these films, Letters from Drancy which had its World Premiere at the Venice Biennale 2023.

Selected VR Filmography as Director:
Witness 360: 7/7 (2015)
Lexus: The Life RX (2016)
Indefinite (2016)
No Small Talk (BBC, 2016)
Welcome to Laphroaig (2017)
Junior (ITV, 2017)
King of Infinite Space (2017)
San Miguel: Rich List (2017)
Malaria: Life on the Frontline (Comic Relief, 2018)
Common Ground (2019)
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats (2022)
Letters from Drancy (Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, 2023)

Selected articles:
Sight & Sound
Huffington Post
Voices of VR