Gwenael François

Gwenael François is a visionary French director and producer based in Luxembourg. As a key creative force at Skill Lab, he crafts captivating stories that seamlessly merge artistry with technology. His portfolio spans short films and music videos, each a testament to his innovative storytelling.

Since embracing virtual reality in 2020, Gwenael has pushed the boundaries of interactive experiences with groundbreaking works like Oto’s Planet (Special Jury Prize, Venice 2024; Reflet d’Or, GIFF 2024), Errances (FIVARS 2023, SIGGRAPH 2023), and his current project, Tachychronia.

With a passion for global collaboration and a relentless drive for innovation, Gwenael François continues to reimagine the possibilities of immersive storytelling, leaving an indelible mark on the intersection of creativity and technology.

In his talk, Gwenael François shares how curiosity has guided his creative path. It has always pushed him to explore, try new things, and discover what happens when ideas move across different forms and technologies.
His work has moved from photography to motion design, from storytelling and music videos to VR and XR projects, always through experimentation. Each step has brought new ways of thinking, new tools, and new ways to tell stories. Curiosity has also taken his work to major festival stages, including Venice, where it was recognized with a Lion, and to international recognition. But what matters most is the process: learning by doing, trusting intuition, and letting one experiment lead to the next.
This talk is about moving between different practices, taking risks, and staying open to what you do not yet know. It is about making room for discovery, and about how experimentation can keep a creative practice alive.