The works competing in the Virtual Reality (VR) section of the 77th Venice Int'l Film Festival will be accessible to audiences in several countries around the world, the organizers announced on Wednesday.

Venice VR Expanded, as the section is called this year, will specifically include 44 visual projects submitted by authors of 24 different nationalities.

These projects will be available for viewing at cultural institutions in 10 other countries, including China, Russia, Switzerland, France, Spain, and Germany.

Such institutions were part of the "Satellite Program" network, and will allow their audience to enjoy the competing works online by providing the necessary technology at their locations, the organizers explained.

China Academy of Art-Sandbox Immersive Festival in eastern Zhejiang province will be among the institutions involved, along with Espace Centquatre-Paris Diversion in the French capital, Comedie de Geneve in Geneva, Design Center Flacon in Moscow, Institute of Art & Culture in Barcelona, and INVR. SPACE (in partnership with VRBB) in Germany's capital Berlin.

Other cultural and art centers to become temporary venues of this year's Venice VR will include Portland Art Museum and Northwest Film Center in the northwestern U.S. city of Portland, PHI Center in Canada's Montreal, and Nikolaj Kunsthal in Denmark's capital Copenhagen.

The virtual works would also be available for viewing in three other Italian venues (Mestre, Piacenza, and Modena).

The Venice VR section will take place online this year, with the 44 selected projects competing for three specific awards: namely, the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work, the Best VR Immersive User Experience, and the Best VR Immersive Story.

The 77th edition of the world's oldest film festival runs from Sept. 2-12 under the leadership of Director Alberto Barbera.

The main competition will comprise 18 movies from countries including Azerbaijan, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Russia, and the United States.

It will be the first international film festival to take place after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out at a global level.

A specific anti-COVID-19 safety protocol and some changes in the festival setting will be put in place to ensure the health safety of visitors and operators, organizers said in late July while announcing the line-up.