Airship Dreams: Escaping Gravity will make its debut at Sheffield International Documentary Festival, known as DocFest, from 23rd – 28th June.

If you weren’t able to see this incredible piece of immersive art while it was on display at The Higgins in Bedford, now is your chance to catch it again at this very prestigious event. Britain’s Imperial Airship programme will once again be presented as a full room immersive installation, revealing the human desire for progress, adventure and the unknown.

Created in Unreal Engine, Escaping Gravity interrogates the tension between the pioneering optimism of airship construction in the 1920s and the consequences of hubris, as a reflection on our contemporary political and cultural landscape in a post-pandemic world. This is embodied in the wild ambition that went into the making of the R.101 airship and the tragedy that followed. Incorporating archive footage that merges real and imagined worlds of flight and fantasy against a complex symphonic score, this is a multi-layered work that explores birth, death and rebirth.

To start the festival there is the opportunity to attend a FREE preview which takes place on Thursday 23rd June at 3pm at Access Space @ Event Central (20-26 Fargate, Sheffield). If you would like to attend please book here.

Escaping Gravity is part of the Alternate Realities programme, connecting it with the engaged community of public audiences and industry professionals that Sheffield DocFest attracts.

Last year DocFest  hosted a hybrid edition, with over 45,000 virtual and in-person attendances and 2056 industry delegates from over 70 countries. Those are impressive figures which they intend to smash this year and Airship Dreams will be in front of that large and influential audience.

Ami Aubrey, Programme Producer said: “This is a huge event to be part of and we are thrilled that we are able to bring Escaping Gravity to a whole new audience. There are members of the public and industry professional mixing at all of the events which makes it really unique.”