This year again, the dome of Jena's planetarium will show pictures in an outstanding variety of styles and messages. Altogether, 80 fulldome presentations from 17 countries will be screened. In that respect, visitors to the Jena FullDome Festival are privileged: there's no other place on the globe where such a comprehensive and varied selection of current fulldome shows, short films and experiments are shown to the public. This has got around – professionals and fulldome lovers alike from all over the world are going to set off for Jena next week.

For the first time, the schedule includes productions using the „Spatial Sound Wave System“ installed in the planetarium. This audio system envelops the viewers in all-around sound in addition to all-around pictures. The festival schedule supplies a lot of good reasons to attend the three-days' event.

At 9 p.m. on May 29th, the opening night, admission to the planetarium is free for getting an introduction to the medium. A general explanation of fulldome will be followed by a discussion of its specific features and tricky sides, demonstrated by examples. The host panel consists of Prof. Rotraut Pape (Offenbach Academy of Design), Micky Remann (Bauhaus University of Weimar) and Robert Sawallisch (Jena Zeiss Planetarium), who have been connected with the FullDome Festival for many years.

Starting from noon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 24 professional shows from around the globe will be projected onto the planetarium dome. Most of them are focused on scientific subjects, and a growing share of them is produced lavishly and in really innovative ways. The inexhaustibility of fulldome subjects is evident from the many shows for children, full of entertainment as well as experiment. From the abundance of entries we have selected those that enrich the fulldome medium in their own particular ways. Visitors may look forward to some surprise or other.

The program for the morning hours of the festival days includes presentations and specialist talks; see the program brochure for details (http://fulldome-festival.de).

The evening program starts at 7 p.m. each day. Thursday night is dedicated to professional short films and clips from all over the world. Friday is „Student‘s Night“ – as in the years before, we are eager to see the latest fulldome experiments by students, this time from ten universities in Germany, the USA and  England.

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, finally, the great Festival Gala Night will be opened. Its highlights will be the ceremonious conferring of the FullDome Awards, presentations of the best movies in all categories, and the audience ballot for the best student contribution. This year, the winners of the coveted FullDome Awards will enjoy not only sizable prize monies but also the „Janus“ statue. Created specifically for the festival by artist Cosima Göpfert, it can take on Hollywood's »Oscar« any time in terms of splendor. The Roman deity of Janus, who has got a pair of eyes in front and another at the back of his head, and who has been an inspiration for the changeover from flat screen to fulldome, is considered the patron saint of the fulldome scene due to his ability of all-round vision.

We look forward to welcoming hosts of visitors.