Dome Fest West

The US's only dedicated fulldome industry conference & film festival. Coming to the Fiske Planetarium April 21-25, 2027.

Dome Fest West is an immersive Dome film festival and conference scheduled for May 2-5, 2024, in Boulder, Colorado. What better way to share immersive experiences than within the Dome space? It's becoming increasingly clear that Dome content isn't just for planetariums or science centers anymore! As more Dome venues come online in 2023, audiences will have a new way to watch world-class immersive content, all without requiring a VR headset. You can now surround yourself with familiar formats in a brand new way and be amazed at the technology that has helped bring new stories to life.

10/09/2026

One week left before the DFW27 Regular submission deadline.

Submissions close October 16. After that, Late fees apply (Late deadline: December 4; Final deadline: January 8, 2027). If your fulldome film is ready, submit now at the current rate.

domefestwest.com

10/07/2026

🏆 Best Children's Film: Little Eve: Stories of Planet Earth, 2026 Dome Fest West winner.

The award was announced on stage at Fiske Planetarium, and the film's power was clear in the moment. Little Eve: Stories of Planet Earth treats young viewers as the curious, capable people they are. Swipe through and watch the kids in the audience lean back as the film's animated world fills the entire dome above them. This is children's programming done right.

Planetariums looking for family content should know about this one. Directed by Klára Jůzová. Produced by Krutart Studio.

10/06/2026

If you have ever wanted to make a fulldome film but did not know where to begin, this one is for you. On October 15 at 9 AM PDT / 12 PM EDT, Dome Fest West's Fulldome Forum series welcomes four experienced voices in the fulldome world: Javier Bollaín, Tara Rose Morris, Ryan Hartsell, and Michel D.T. Lam. They will be demystifying the process and giving you the tools to get started. Registration link is in the comments!

10/05/2026

Heading to Hawaii anytime soon? 🌊

One of our all-time favorite fulldome films now has a home in Waikiki! Sounds of the Ocean by Joshua Sam Miller and Embodied Sounds opens this month in its own dome at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, playing every day for at least the next six months.

This one holds a special place in Dome Fest West history. It won an Honorable Mention at DFW 2022 as a short film, then came back as a full feature and won Best Musical Feature Film at DFW 2024. Every version has been more beautiful than the last!

Everything you see and hear is real ocean life, whales and dolphins included, set to original music. Daytime shows are a 25-minute family-friendly version for ages 4 and up, and evenings bring the full 47-minute experience.

If you're on Oahu, or know someone who will be, send this their way!
soundsoftheocean.com/waikiki

Congratulations Joshua! 💙

09/30/2026

🏆 Best Live Experience: LUMINESCENCE, 2026 Dome Fest West winner.

LUMINESCENCE is a live fulldome work that combines performance, projection, and audience presence into something that only exists once: the night you see it. This year at DFW26, that meant conversations on the dome floor, keynotes broadcast across the planetarium, and the kind of live energy (captured here under laser light and a packed audience) that proves planetariums are ready for ticketed live event programming.

Live experiences are a genuine growth area for venues looking to expand beyond traditional planetarium programming. LUMINESCENCE shows what's possible.

Directed by Anne Wichmann, Anke Schiemann, and Peter Graf. Produced by Peter Graf.

09/29/2026

🎬 Creator Spotlight: Pat Clark.

Pat is an Assistant Professor at CU Boulder and faculty director of the Immersive Media Lab, where he teaches students hands-on production across VR, AR, and fulldome. He's also a working creator himself: an 8K fulldome planetarium film exploring loss and family dynamics, where he served as producer, cinematographer, and editor.

Education and creation, same person, same dome.

09/28/2026

DFW27 Regular deadline: Oct 16.

Look at what happens in the dome: conversations between creators. Audiences leaning in. The moment a film lands. This is the community we're building, and you're invited to be part of it.

Two and a half weeks until the Regular submission window closes. If your film is ready, submit at domefestwest.com.

09/24/2026

🌟 Sponsor Spotlight: The Elumenati

Every dome screening starts long before the lights go down, with the people who design and engineer the environments themselves. The Elumenati builds immersive projection systems, from portable GeoDome theaters to permanent museum and planetarium installations.

They supported DFW26 as a sponsor, and we're grateful for partners who quite literally build the places this medium lives.

09/23/2026

🏆 Best Interactive Experience: The Pleasure Machine, 2026 Dome Fest West winner.

The moment speaks for itself: the filmmakers bringing their vision to Fiske Planetarium, sharing what interactive fulldome cinema can be. The Pleasure Machine questions what 'interactive' even means in a dome context, then answers with something genuinely new.

For planetariums experimenting with audience engagement and new programming formats, this is the title to study. Congratulations to the team.

Created by Kelon Cen and Weilu Ge, produced by IMUU.

09/16/2026

🏆 Best Narrative Film: Edge of the Sky, 2026 Dome Fest West Winner

At DFW26's awards ceremony at Fiske Planetarium, Edge of the Sky was recognized for its achievement in narrative fulldome cinema. This film does what traditional cinema has been trying to accomplish with surround sound for decades: it actually surrounds the audience inside the story.

The moment was celebrated on the Fiske dome stage in front of industry professionals, filmmakers, and fulldome enthusiasts from around the world.

Directed by Pavel Karas and Tomáš Tichý. Produced by Brno Observatory and Planetarium.

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http://DomeFestWest.com/

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