The Royal Shakespeare Company, iNK Stories and Alambic Productions present the world premiere of Lili at this year’s Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) from Tuesday 13 May - Thursday 22 May. This is the first time a video game has been presented in a Cannes Festival competition.  

The game has been selected as part of the prestigious Festival de Cannes Immersive Competition which selects immersive works that showcase the cutting edge of a new era in storytelling, challenging convention, embracing new technologies, and above all celebrating new artists as well as old. A new trailer for the neo-noir interactive thriller is also now available. 

Lili, a unique and groundbreaking cross-industry collaboration, marks the RSC’s debut in the video game industry. The first chapter of the Macbeth inspired video game - featuring Cannes Best Actress Award Winner Zar Amir as Lady Macbeth (Lili) - is available to play until 22 May for journalists and festival attendees.  

This exciting new collaboration builds on iNK’s acclaimed, genre-defining game 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, which garnered over 20 top industry honours, including a BAFTA nomination, Meta’s Game of the Year award, the Indiecade Grand Jury Prize, and a special UNESCO award.  

The RSC’s Director of Creative Innovation, Sarah Ellis said:  

“As a storytelling medium, gaming today is what theatre has always been; a chance to explore worlds, inhabit story, and experience something at once personal and communal. This partnership, and the RSC’s first foray into the world of gaming, pushes the boundaries of storytelling. Lili is the first of its kind - a unique interaction between film, theatre and gaming which propels the creative vision of the RSC into the realms of interactive. We are delighted to have been chosen as part of the Immersive Competition at Cannes with its focus on selecting immersive works that showcase the cutting edge of a new era in storytelling that challenge convention and embrace new technologies - that’s at the heart of Lili”. 

iNK Stories Co-Founder, Vassiliki Khonsari said:  
“Lili transforms one of literature’s darkest and most compelling tales of gender ambition, fate, power, and morality into an immersive, interactive experience. By adapting Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece for contemporary audiences, it unlocks new depths of expression in storytelling, marking an inflection point for immersive games in an era of global techno-authoritarianism and gender oppression.” 

The full game is now in development and slated to enter production in late 2025 and the final release will be accessible across gaming platforms.  

Visit the Cannes website for more information on sessions, the Immersive Competition, and to view the trailer.