Nested Cinema began as an idea in Pavel Prokopič's mind: could cinema, largely unchanged for a century, be reimagined for how we watch and feel stories today? As the project's creator and Project Lead, the Czech filmmaker and University of Salford lecturer draws on a career of creative experimentation and philosophy, including his AHRC-funded PhD, Affective Cinema, which produced ten short films and nine journal publications and was exhibited at FACT Liverpool and the V&A Museum. He also co-founded the International Network of Experimental Fiction Filmmaking, and holds a Master's in Film Aesthetics from Magdalen College, Oxford.
When Prof. Andy Miah looks at Nested Cinema, he sees a familiar question in a new setting: how do emerging technologies reshape human experience? As Project Co-Lead, he brings that inquiry, spanning digital media, AI, extended reality and speculative futures, to chairing the project's steering group and shaping its early conceptual research. Previously Principal Investigator on the £3.2m Innovate UK MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub, which backed over 50 SMEs building next-generation audience experiences, Andy has also worked with the Royal College of Art and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, collaborating with artists like Marshmallow Laser Feast to challenge what it means to be human.
For Stuart Haffenden Cornejo, Nested Cinema is a chance to put his research into embodied, human-centred design to work in a new setting, cinema. As Project Co-Lead, he leads the technological development that weaves screens, sound and dynamic lighting into traditional cinema spaces, bringing the concept of "nesting" to life. A multidisciplinary practitioner in web, audio and immersive technologies, Stuart's PhD in Digital Innovation at Lancaster University produced a wearable prototype blending sound and interaction design to support runners, work that still shapes how he thinks about technology and lived experience. As Programme Leader for BSc Creative Computing, he also shapes how the next generation learns to build with emerging tools.
Jayne Sayer has been shaping Nested Cinema's visual world since its earliest pilot, where she designed the immersive set and smart lighting system that gave the project its atmosphere. As Project Co-Lead, she continues that work, bringing dynamic lighting design and film production expertise to its next stage. A lecturer and researcher, Jayne investigates spatial narrative through reactive lighting, multi-screen installation and 180°/360° cinematography, drawing on over ten years of broadcast and post-production experience. Her work on the pilot led to a joint journal publication and a conference presentation in Stuttgart, and she remains active in international networks including the Production Design Research & Education Network.
Pavel Prokopič
Project Lead
Andy Miah
Project Co-lead
Jayne Sayer
Project Co-lead
Stuart Haffenden Cornejo
Project co-lead