Ikrima Elhassan

Ikrima Elhassan is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Kite & Lightning a Virtual Reality Creative Studio established in 2013. As Co-Director he is responsible for guiding the development of the studio’s original content creation consisting of immersive computer-generated (CG) worlds that meld cinematic storytelling fused with interactive gaming, including the studio’s much-anticipated VR satire party brawler premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival 2017, “Bebylon Battle Royale.”

The Los Angeles-based start-up has succeeded in many genres to critical acclaims such as the Cannes Lion Festival and the Toronto International Festival POP Exhibits. Other recent projects include a 4D VR experience for NBC’s “The Voice” featuring Pharrell Williams, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, & Gwen Stefani; and Lionsgate’s first VR narrative, a hybrid live-action and CG experience starring Kate Winslet, Mekhi Phifer, and Miles Teller.

Before Kite & Lightning, Ikrima’s career spanned 14 years in the tech industry at Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, as well as academia as a Turing Scholar at the University of Texas researching real-time advanced image synthesis.