Common Ground
Common Ground is an award-winning interactive VR documentary directed by our CCO Darren Emerson and co-funded by CreativeXR and StoryFutures Academy. The experience explores the Aylesbury Estate in South London, a once-visionary social housing project now undergoing a controversial regeneration. Through immersive storytelling, Common Ground offers a powerful examination of community, displacement, and the broader implications of housing policy.
Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, Common Ground has received global recognition for its innovative approach to immersive storytelling. The experience combines stereoscopic 360 video, photogrammetry, 3D modelling, and archival materials to transport viewers into the world of the Aylesbury Estate—from its utopian beginnings in the 1960s to its decline and current redevelopment.
Directed by Darren Emerson, a pioneer in VR storytelling, Common Ground challenges perspectives on social housing and regeneration. The documentary questions how design, political will, and economic interests shape the lives of working-class communities, exploring the disenfranchisement and demonisation of those affected by gentrification.
The project has received critical acclaim and multiple awards, including Outstanding VR Narrative at World Press Photo, Best VR Experience at the Broadcast Digital Awards, and the Grand Prix for Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinéma.
"This 30-minute experience featuring the Aylesbury Estate in London is an urgent political documentary about social cleansing that deftly blends archive film, original interview, drone photography, interactive elements and 3D blueprints to devastating effect."
- Sight & Sound
Screenings:
April 2019
- Tribeca Film Festival (New York, USA) – World Premiere
May 2019
- ASC Gallery (London, UK) – Aylesbury Estate – Private View
June 2019
- Sheffield Doc Fest (Sheffield, UK) – UK Premiere
- Sandbox Immersive Festival (Qingdao, China) – Winner: Best Immersive Storytelling
August 2019
- Melbourne International Film Festival (Melbourne, Australia)
September 2019
- Camden International Film Festival (Camden, USA)
- The Portal (LA, USA)VIFF (Vancouver, Canada)
October 2019
- Walworth History Festival (London, UK)
- Haifa International Film Festival (Haifa, Israel)
- BFI London Film Festival (London, UK)
- The Lighthouse (Brighton, UK)
- Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal, Canada) – Grand Prix Innovation Winner
November 2019
- Aesthetica (York, UK)
- IDFA DocLab 2019 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)