Announcing the 2026 FullDome Festival jury!

We are delighted to unveil the panel of judges for the 2026 FullDome Festival.

We are honoured that three individuals have dedicated their time and expertise to viewing the Fulldome submissions in the 2026 competition.

Representing three continets, Kelley Francis (Arizona), Delhia de France (Berlin) and Warik Lawrance (Melbourne) will deliberate and decide which film, artist or producer will win a JANUS Award in one of the various categories. Who will take one home?

The winners will be announced at the 20 FullDome Festival awards ceremony on 17 July at 7 p.m. CET, which will be streamed live from the Jena Planetarium to the whole world. Mark it in your calendar.

Be there when it happens!

2026 FullDome Festival Jury:

 

Kelley Francis

Kelley Francis is a fulldome professional based out of the Southwest, USA. She serves on the Programming Committee for Dome Fest West and is a proud member of the Giant Screen Cinema Association and the International Planetarium Society. She has served as a coordinator and jury member for various film festivals and is founder of Fulldome Creative. Her background in independent cinema and large-scale immersive & interactive installations come together under the dome to consult on compelling fulldome productions which have shown around the world. She is an advocate for Dark Skies and resides in Arizona.
https://www.domefestwest.com/

 

Delhia de France

Delhia de France is a singer, writer, producer and visual artist based in Berlin with a background in Design and Experimental Radio from Bauhaus University Weimar. She has collaborated extensively with internationally recognized artists across electronic music, film and multimedia, and has toured planetariums as support act for Robot Koch's fulldome show. Her upcoming Spatial Audio Mixtape, that will premiere at the Imersa Festival, marks a new direction in her practice, exploring immersive storytelling and the translation of club music into experiential spaces. With a keen eye for aesthetic world-building, she brings a sharp artistic sensibility and cross-disciplinary expertise to the fulldome format.
https://www.delhiadefrance.com 

 

Warik Lawrance

Warik Lawrance is the Digital Production Designer for the Melbourne Planetarium. The Melbourne Planetarium is the only fulldome production house in the Southern Hemisphere, creating and distributing award winning films to planetariums throughout the world. Prior to working for the Planetarium, Warik spent 15 years in the Melbourne film industry. This experience allowed him to bring a much more cinematic approach to the planetarium.

Since 2005, Warik has worked as a 3D animator, designer, director, compositor & editor on ten fulldome films. Warik is the founder and director of the Dome Under Film Festival, the only fulldome festival in Australia.
https://fddb.org/events/dome-under-film-festival-2026

SAVE THE DATE:
20th FullDome Festival
15-17 Juli 2026

SAVE THE DATE & CELEBRATE:
20 Years FullDome Festival / 100 Years Jena Planetarium.
Two anniversaries rolled in one!

 

THE JENA FULLDOME FESTIVAL - WHO WE ARE
In 2007, a group of committed students and teachers met in the Jena Planetarium to show their first own works in the new 360-degree medium. We courageously called it „The First Jena FullDome Festival.“ A legend was born! Now in its 20th year of existence, the FullDome Festival is argueably the oldest, continuously happening event of its kind.

Coincidentally our host, the Zeiss-Planetarium Jena, is the oldest continously operating Planetarium in the world. As the motto goes: 20 is the new 100!

WHAT ARE WE DOING ?
Visitors to the festival see and evaluate international fulldome films, they meet professional, student and independent producers and take part in workshops, presentations and expert talks. Festival curators, an international jury and the festival directors evaluate the submitted works and select the most innovative productions for the festival awards.

The FullDome Festival offers a comprehensive overview of the state of the medium to the public, it is also a forum and marketplace for artists and producers to present their shows to a qualified audience. We encourage artistic experiments. It is amazing to see new approaches to the medium at each festival, including live concerts and performances, children's films and club culture in the 360-degree dome.

With about 800 contributions from 30 nations and close to 10.000 visitors from 2007 till today, the FullDome Festival is probably the biggest international festival of its kind.

Finding kindred spirits, getting inspired by new ideas and starting collaborations are strong points of the annual FullDome Festival.
A core mission of the FullDome Festival has always been to encourage new talents to stretch the envelope of what’s possible in the dome. Many students who contributed to the festival in previous years are now employed in planetariums and immersive media companies. If you are looking for talent, the Jena Festival is the place to go.

The festival ends with a highlight. The Award-ceremony where the renowned JANUS-Awards will again honor trailblazer productions and acknowledge excellence in immersive fulldome media.

WHERE ARE WE HEADING?
The evolution of immersive fulldome media is an invitation to continuously rethink the festival’s structure and program. How do we best serve the community? How do we match the expectations of producers, planetarium people and the public? The Jena FullDome Festival wants to encourage people from planetariums, fulldome theatres, universities, museums, creative artists, pioneers and vendors to embrace fulldome as an educational tool, as an immersive art form, and as mind-altering experience.

“Praise the Dome!”

 

★WINNERS OF THE 2025 JANUS-AWARDS★

★Best Fulldome Innovation:
This is Not a Ceremony - Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon)

★Best New Talent:
Reply - Felix Niemeyer

★Best Feature:
Seek - Nancy Baker Cahill, Cosm Studios

★Best Science & Education:
Starry Animals: Mountain, Sea and River Constellations in Colombian Skies - Parque Explora, Planetario de Medellin, Double Dome

★Best Art & Experiment:
Eternal Habitat- Sergey Prokofyev

★Best Fulldome Short:
AnimalArk - David Alejandro Garcia Cruz

★Special Jury Award:
Impossible Space - Rocco Helmchen, Johannes Kraas

★Best Fulldome Audio:
Impossible Space - Rocco Helmchen, Johannes Kraas

★Lifetime Achievement Award:
Jürgen Hellwig

Congratulations!