Founded and run by Ashley Cowan and Darren Emerson, East City Films are leaders in the production of purpose-driven, social-impact content; from virtual reality documentaries, 360° video and augmented reality to brand films, television and music video content.
We immerse audiences in important stories, whether it's a VR documentary about the UK's detention system, an AR app about air quality for the British Heart Foundation or anti-bullying PSAs for Cartoon Network. We work with bands, brands, media owners, agencies, charities and broadcasters and produce our own documentaries.
We are the foremost VR documentary producers in Europe, making experiences which focus on issues of social justice, human rights and wellbeing. Often directed and produced by our co-founder Darren Emerson, our VR films have played at film festivals all over the world: From Cannes, Raindance and IDFA to Sheffield Doc Fest, Venice and Tribeca, our work has been celebrated and awarded by audiences and critics alike.
Witness 360: 7/7 is an original pioneer in 360 video production and tells the traumatic story of a 7/7 survivor. Indefinite, a virtual reality experience about the UK's detention system was licensed by the New York Times VR app having won the inaugural VR commission at Sheffield Doc Fest. The Creative XR and Arts Council funded Common Ground is an interactive VR, 6DoF experience that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Most recently The Waiting Room: VR, a VR documentary by BAFTA winner Victoria Mapplebeck, shares the director’s experience of breast cancer and received its world premiere at Venice Biennale.
We pride ourselves as purpose-driven, social-impact storytellers and have travelled the world to unearth people and places which interest, inspire us and need to be given a voice. We’ve produced HIV-awareness documentaries in Nigeria, Portugal and India. We’ve filmed Jason Mraz in the first ever open-air pop concert in Myanmar as he campaigned against human trafficking in South East Asia. We’ve produced a documentary about Solar Impulse, the first ever solar-powered flight around the world.
East City Films is an eclectic place, but we have one vein running through all our work: We strive to illuminate the world with purpose-driven storytelling using traditional and immersive platforms.
Be it virtual reality production, augmented reality, branded content, music video, documentary or 360 video production, if you have something important to say and are interested in your project being our next and, then we’d love to hear from you.
