Creating immersive experiences for the dome theater has become a hot new field for creative filmmakers. The wraparound VR-like environment allows for transformative experiences in art, nature and storytelling. Here you’ll see a sampling of some of the award-winning short pieces from the world recognized Fulldome Film Festival in Jena, Germany. Approx 30 minutes.

As a kid Ethan Minsker gravitated toward D.C. punk’s roughest edges and developed dangerous fascinations. He could have ended up dead or in jail like many of his friends, but instead he found Betamax home movies, zines, performance art, and writing. He eventually founded an art movement dedicated to outsiders like himself. This sort of film auto-biopic is done in Minsker’s signature style, equal parts menacing and endearing.

With the impending Y2K apocalypse fast approaching, Abbie is faced with the ultimate challenge - the unbeatable level 256 on Pac-Man - and he can't get off the couch until he conquers it. A survival story set in a living room.

Owen is a jobless, deadbeat drunk reduced to squatting under his brother’s bar. Lacie is a homeless pill-popping hooker who’s just been fired by her pimp. When fate brings them together at their lowest, they set aside their hatred for each other to scam, steal or scrounge $98 for bus tickets to leave the city for a small town where they hope to start new, less shitty lives.

Jim is a police officer who tries to come to grips with his mom’s death while giving a heartfelt eulogy at her funeral. It’s not pretty. Focused on trying to do what’s right and failing, his only comfort is his daughter whom he may lose in a custody battle to his ex-wife. It seems like no one is on his side and no one understands what he’s going through, not even himself.

A mysterious drifter fixated on stone skipping shows up in a sleepy waterfront town. Hounded by a local realtor who is convinced that such shenanigans will lower property values, the skipper soldiers on meeting a host of colorful figures: sidekicks, love interests, backgammon junkies, Irish balladeers. Wertheimer’s absurdist comedy, crowdfunded by HHM and filmed in Bay City with the support of local talent, offers a touching meditation on the competing pulls of desire and necessity in making a purposeful life.