Mediawan’s Imagissime label and immersive-media pioneer Atlas V have teamed to provide “Paradoxes,” a surreal sci-fi comedy sequence mixing stay motion and generative AI, starring up-and-comers akin to Xavier Lacaille (“Parlement”), Zita Hanrot (“The Hook Up Plan”), Nora Hamzawi (“Irma Vep”) and Oussama Kheddam (“Mes premieres vacances”).
Arte France is co-producing and has ordered the sequence which can stream it on its service, whereas Mediawan Rights will distribute it internationally. Now filming till subsequent month, “Paradoxes” additionally secured R&D help from Google on the AI entrance, alongside public funding from CNC and the Île-de-France area.
The six-part present, which is directed by Pierre Zandrowicz (” I, Philip”), follows Roman (Lacaille), a depressed journalist who travels to a forest to report on a uncommon oak species for Bois Journal, solely to fall into an increasing quantum anomaly attributable to a zealous scientist, Lea (Hanrot). The latter quickly realizes the inside of the alternate zone is actually the materialization of Roman’s tortured unconscious, a surreal psychological panorama the place neuroses, fantasies, childhood reminiscences and shameful ghosts spill into bodily actuality, all whereas the military and Roman’s unconventional therapist (Hamzawi) try and include the disaster. “Paradoxes” was created and written by Maxime Donzel and Émilie Valentin.
Zandrowicz, who co-founded Atlas V in 2017 with Antoine Cayrol and Arnaud Colinart, beforehand directed the VR quick movies “I, Philip,” and “Mirror,” in addition to produced a flurry of pageant prizewinners, together with “Gloomy Eyes” and “Battlescar.” Zandrowicz beforehand labored with Hanrot on “Mirror,” a story sci-fi VR quick within the veins of “Below The Pores and skin” and “Annihilation.” For “Paradoxes,” he stated he was impressed by the surrealism and existential playfulness of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s works, blurring the strains between the acutely aware and the unconscious, the absurd and the true.
“Paradoxes” marks Atlas V’s first full authentic live-action sequence, and it’s additionally a daring new step for Imagissime, Élodie Polo Ackerman’s formidable manufacturing label which has been thriving with critically acclaimed, cinematic documentaries for Netflix (“Gregory,” “L’affaire Florence Cassez”), Disney+ (“L’affaire Swagg Man : Hip-hop, affect et bitcoins”), France Télévisions (“Féroces”), Arte (“Yakuza”), TF1 (“Temple solaire : L’enquête unattainable”) and Canal+ (“X contre Z”). Below Polo Ackerman’s helm, the banner has not too long ago began producing fiction and is venturing into hybrid narration with “Paradoxes.”
Polo-Ackermann informed Selection that Imagissime “related with this mission due to its high quality — all of the work Atlas has been doing for years in a extremely revolutionary subject, all the time with the story on the middle of every little thing.”
“Pierre has unbelievable expertise, with a universe that sits proper on the fringe of the absurd to deal with the theme of psychological well being,” she says, including that this topic is common, citing “Patrick Melrose” starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a wealthy dandy affected by a heroin habit. There’s additionally “Vie Privée,” starring Jodie Foster as a therapist who falls into neurosis after a affected person’s suicide.
Atlas V COO Oriane Hurard stated the banner began growing “Paradoxes” a year-and-a-half in the past, and stemmed instantly from Zandrowicz’s inventive deep dive into generative AI.
Regardless of its cutting-edge aesthetic, the writing course of on “Paradoxe” adopted a conventional path. Arte paired Zandrowicz with two seasoned comedy writers, Donzel and Valentin, who’ve labored throughout OCS, France Télévisions and Disney+, Hurard stated.
Arte’s digital creation unit additionally performed a key position in shepherding “Paradoxes” whose visible pipeline is extremely refined. Whereas the true world depicted within the sequence is shot historically with actors in bodily areas, Roman’s internal psyche (additionally known as the zone) is designed with generative AI, defined Hurard, who additionally identified the complicated transitional sequences, akin to characters crossing the portal between actual world and psyche, required blended methods, together with green-screen setups, 3D mapping and motion-capture.
“Paradoxes” additionally drew surprising help from the French Military who entusiastically joined the mission after watching the prototype video put collectively by Atlas V and Imagissime. Their backing went far past location entry — the manufacturing has had entry to army coaching grounds, tents and automobiles, and even benefited from consultants advising actors on terminology and weapons-handling. Latest scenes had been filmed on the Montlhéry army base and the manufacturing is now filming at Bry-sur-Marne studios.
Hurard framed “Paradoxes” as a pure evolution of Atlas V’s decade-long collaboration with Arte, spanning from early VR shorts to bringing generative AI into narrative storytelling. But, Polo-Ackermann says “Paradoxes” isn’t an experimental work, however slightly a “sequence rooted in conventional fiction that makes use of cutting-edge instruments to discover the uncharted landscapes of the thoughts with a mix of emotional surrealism and sharp comedy.”
