An immersive virtual reality documentary capturing the aftermath and human resilience following the catastrophic January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires was awarded the prestigious Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize on Saturday at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
The 26-minute film, titled “Out of the Ashes,” was co-directed by Los Angeles-based filmmakers Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña. Narrated by award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance, the project places viewers directly inside 3D-reconstructed spaces lost or altered during the disaster that swept through local communities, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
An international jury chaired by Paul Raphaël chose “Out of the Ashes” from a field of 30 competing projects during the 10th anniversary edition of Venice Immersive, the festival’s extended-reality competition section.
The documentary explores themes of loss, memory and recovery by utilizing cutting-edge spatial capture technologies. Rather than relying solely on traditional news footage, the filmmakers built three-dimensional environments using personal photos, home videos and digital artifacts donated by impacted residents.
The film anchors its narrative around seven personal accounts, translating staggering losses into tangible human stories. Viewers move through digital reconstructions of everyday personal possessions preserved only in memory: a hand-painted red front door, an antique cello and a child’s bedroom.
“When the fires happened, I knew we needed to begin documenting what people had gone through before the news cycle moved on,” de la Peña, who also produced the project, said. “The technology allows us to recreate memories in three dimensions, but the subject always drives the piece. This is a story about climate disaster, but it is also about communities coming together and finding a way forward. If it can inspire people, including decision-makers, to understand what is at stake and act, that is the best outcome I can imagine.”
Co-director and producer Mitchell emphasized that bringing the intimate local experiences of Pacific Palisades and Altadena to an international platform helped foster broader global connections.
“Receiving this recognition in Venice helps carry the story of Los Angeles, Altadena, and the Palisades to a much broader audience,” Mitchell said. “By rebuilding participants’ homes around them using their own photos and videos, we hope people can better understand the life of a house, the life of a family, and what was truly lost. In Venice, audiences connected the work not only to climate change, but also to their own experiences of loss, grief, and moving forward.”
The documentary concludes with an epilogue pointing audiences toward community-led recovery efforts, highlighting local organizations including the Palisades Recovery Coalition, Evolve Altadena and My Tribe Rise.
“Out of the Ashes” was produced by The Mercantile Agency, Emblematic Group, and Arizona State University’s Narrative and Emerging Media program, with support from Agog: The Immersive Media Institute and the MacArthur Foundation.