"We're here to celebrate the pioneers," said Ochoa. "People aren't making money on this yet. It's financed by artists themselves with their blood, sweat and tears."

With only a few hours and limited VR headsets, I didn't get to watch everything. But there were some big standouts from what I did see.

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The first is "Mad God" on the Oculus Rift, directed by Phil Tippet. I'm sorry, I mean Oscar wier Phil Tippett. He shared in the Visual Effects Academy Awards for both "Retu of the Jedi" and "Jurassic Park". It's a surrealistic, stop-motion animated experience that is enhanced by a haptic feedback vest. The vest provides physical vibration for some of the more kinetic effects and basso profundo sounds.

It's the first time I've tried this sort of haptic feedback in VR, and it's frankly amazing. It adds an extra layer and makes the two-minute long "Mad God" into something almost overwhelming.

"Tana Pura" was another standout. Experienced via the Samsung Gear VR, "Tana Pura" is initially a seemingly random display of shapes and colours, all set to a score from Radiohead's Joy Greenwood. It's directed by Mike Tucker, who works at secretive startup Magic Leap, adding an air of mystery to the film. (Magic Leap is working on a "mixed reality" project that's been valued at US$4.5 billion, despite no one quite knowing what they do.)

It's based, in part, on the Tibetan Book of the Dead and is intended to represent the soul's jouey in the afterlife. It's also subtly interactive, changing depending on your head movements. It doesn't have the punch of "Mad God", but I found myself reflecting on it later that night...and for a while afterwards.

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A final experience that made an impression is "Colosse", from Joseph Chen. Like "Tana Pura", it has some small interactivity based on the Gear VR's head tracking, but the story is more narrative. It also has wonderful stylised art and an Arctic colour scheme that I really enjoyed.