Director Tom Paton’s latest film, The Ascent, will be getting a special virtual premiere this week on the AltspaceVR app.

From the press release:

In light of the COVID-19 crisis Coventry based production company Mosley Studios and London based producer financier Goldfinch are set to make history on June 12th with the launch of their latest project, “The Ascent” (known as “Black Ops” in the US) with the film the first to have its premiere in virtual reality via AltspaceVR. The event will be called “The VR Film Festival” and will premiere at 7pm BST via the AltspaceVR app.

To access the event, you simply need to log into the AltspaceVR app and have access to an Oculus headset, or similar. For those without AltspaceVR or access to a visor, the film will premiere on Goldfinch’s Birdbox.Film platform at the same time. Visit BirdBox.Film to register for the non-VR premiere.  The AltspaceVR premiere will also include a Q&A with director Tom Paton, cinematographer George Burt and IndieWire’s executive editor Eric Kohn.

The Ascent (previously known as Stairs) follows a group of mercenaries who find themselves trapped in a never-ending stairwell. With some time-bending, they must face their past sins if they are to survive.

Cinematographer George Burt said of the premiere: “The VR Film Festival was launched to give feature films a virtual platform to premiere in a copyright safe environment. Due to COVID-19 we’ve been looking into tech and found AltspaceVR which can host the event with up to one hundred people attending. The premiere of “The Ascent” will be the first feature length movie to have a live audience attending from all over the world in VR. We are excited to be joining everybody on the night using our Oculus headsets.”

Head over to https://birdbox.film to register for the premiere!