Circle, Onassis ONX Launch 6-Day XR Program, Name Katerina Cizek Head of Studies

3 articles · Updated · Variety · May 18

Circle and Onassis ONX unveiled “Circle Expanded Orbit,” a new international XR and immersive-media program that will run in Athens from Nov. 21 to 26.
Katerina Cizek — an Emmy- and Peabody-winning documentarian and MIT Open Documentary Lab artistic director — was appointed head of studies to shape the program’s pedagogical and creative framework.
July 23 is the application deadline for filmmakers, artists and multidisciplinary storytellers working alone or in pairs, with shortlisted candidates set for interviews in late August.
The initiative extends Circle, founded in 2018, into XR, VR, AR, AI and game-based storytelling as it builds on work with more than 200 filmmakers across 50-plus countries.
The partners said the program is designed to help women and gender-expansive creators lead, rather than just join, storytelling’s shift toward immersive and emergent media.

As AI and XR reshape media, can this new lab forge a more inclusive future for storytelling before technology solidifies its biases?

Beyond a one-week program in Athens, what is the long-term strategy to sustain this new generation of immersive storytellers?