Mediawan’s Imagissime and Atlas V Team on Surreal Sci-Fi Comedy Series ‘Paradoxes,’ Blending Live Action and AI (EXCLUSIVE)
Mediawan’s Imagissime label and immersive-media pioneer Atlas V have teamed to produce “Paradoxes,” a surreal sci-fi comedy series blending live action and generative AI, starring up-and-comers such as 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 series which will stream it on its service, while Mediawan Rights will distribute it internationally. Now filming until next month, “Paradoxes” also secured R&D support from Google on the AI front, alongside public funding from CNC and the Île-de-France region.
The six-part show, which is directed by Pierre Zandrowicz (” I, Philip”), follows Roman (Lacaille), a depressed journalist who travels to a forest to report on a rare oak species for Bois Magazine, only to fall into an expanding quantum anomaly caused by a zealous scientist, Lea (Hanrot). The latter soon realizes the interior of the alternate zone is in fact the materialization of Roman’s tortured subconscious, a surreal mental landscape where neuroses, fantasies, childhood memories and shameful ghosts spill into physical reality, all while the army and Roman’s unconventional therapist (Hamzawi) attempt to contain the catastrophe. “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, previously directed the VR short films “I, Philip,” and “Mirror,” as well as produced a flurry of festival prizewinners, including “Gloomy Eyes” and “Battlescar.” Zandrowicz previously worked with Hanrot on “Mirror,” a narrative sci-fi VR short in the veins of “Under The Skin” and “Annihilation.” For “Paradoxes,” he said he was inspired by the surrealism and existential playfulness of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s works, blurring the lines between the conscious and the unconscious, the absurd and the real.
“Paradoxes” marks Atlas V’s first full original live-action series, and it’s also a bold new step for Imagissime, Élodie Polo Ackerman’s ambitious production label which has been thriving with critically acclaimed, cinematic documentaries for Netflix (“Gregory,” “L’affaire Florence Cassez”), Disney+ (“L’affaire Swagg Man : Hip-hop, influence et bitcoins”), France Télévisions (“Féroces”), Arte (“Yakuza”), TF1 (“Temple solaire : L’enquête impossible”) and Canal+ (“X contre Z”). Under Polo Ackerman’s helm, the banner has recently started producing fiction and is venturing into hybrid narration with “Paradoxes.”
Polo-Ackermann told Variety that Imagissime “connected with this project because of its quality — all the work Atlas has been doing for years in a highly innovative field, always with the story at the center of everything.”
“Pierre has incredible talent, with a universe that sits right at the edge of the absurd to tackle the theme of mental health,” she says, adding that this subject is universal, citing “Patrick Melrose” starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a rich dandy suffering from a heroin addiction. There’s also “Vie Privée,” starring Jodie Foster as a therapist who falls into neurosis after a patient’s suicide.
Atlas V COO Oriane Hurard said the banner started developing “Paradoxes” a year-and-a-half ago, and stemmed directly from Zandrowicz’s artistic deep dive into generative AI.
Despite its cutting-edge aesthetic, the writing process on “Paradoxe” followed a traditional path. Arte paired Zandrowicz with two seasoned comedy writers, Donzel and Valentin, who have worked across OCS, France Télévisions and Disney+, Hurard said.
Arte’s digital creation unit also played a key role in shepherding “Paradoxes” whose visual pipeline is highly sophisticated. While the real world depicted in the series is shot traditionally with actors in physical locations, Roman’s inner psyche (also called the zone) is designed with generative AI, explained Hurard, who also pointed out the complex transitional sequences, such as characters crossing the portal between real world and psyche, required mixed techniques, including green-screen setups, 3D mapping and motion-capture.
“Paradoxes” also drew unexpected support from the French Army and Mission Cinema who oined the project after watching the prototype video put together by Atlas V and Imagissime. Their backing went far beyond location access — the production has had access to military training grounds, tents and vehicles, and even benefited from consultants advising actors on terminology and weapons-handling. Recent scenes were filmed on the Montlhéry military base and the production is now filming at Bry-sur-Marne studios.
Hurard framed “Paradoxes” as a natural evolution of Atlas V’s decade-long collaboration with Arte, spanning from early VR shorts to bringing generative AI into narrative storytelling. Yet, Polo-Ackermann says “Paradoxes” isn’t an experimental work, but rather a “series rooted in traditional fiction that uses cutting-edge tools to explore the uncharted landscapes of the mind with a blend of emotional surrealism and sharp comedy.”
Arte France is co-producing and has ordered the series which will stream it on its service, while Mediawan Rights will distribute it internationally. Now filming until next month, “Paradoxes” also secured R&D support from Google on the AI front, alongside public funding from CNC and the Île-de-France region.
The six-part show, which is directed by Pierre Zandrowicz (” I, Philip”), follows Roman (Lacaille), a depressed journalist who travels to a forest to report on a rare oak species for Bois Magazine, only to fall into an expanding quantum anomaly caused by a zealous scientist, Lea (Hanrot). The latter soon realizes the interior of the alternate zone is in fact the materialization of Roman’s tortured subconscious, a surreal mental landscape where neuroses, fantasies, childhood memories and shameful ghosts spill into physical reality, all while the army and Roman’s unconventional therapist (Hamzawi) attempt to contain the catastrophe. “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, previously directed the VR short films “I, Philip,” and “Mirror,” as well as produced a flurry of festival prizewinners, including “Gloomy Eyes” and “Battlescar.” Zandrowicz previously worked with Hanrot on “Mirror,” a narrative sci-fi VR short in the veins of “Under The Skin” and “Annihilation.” For “Paradoxes,” he said he was inspired by the surrealism and existential playfulness of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s works, blurring the lines between the conscious and the unconscious, the absurd and the real.
“Paradoxes” marks Atlas V’s first full original live-action series, and it’s also a bold new step for Imagissime, Élodie Polo Ackerman’s ambitious production label which has been thriving with critically acclaimed, cinematic documentaries for Netflix (“Gregory,” “L’affaire Florence Cassez”), Disney+ (“L’affaire Swagg Man : Hip-hop, influence et bitcoins”), France Télévisions (“Féroces”), Arte (“Yakuza”), TF1 (“Temple solaire : L’enquête impossible”) and Canal+ (“X contre Z”). Under Polo Ackerman’s helm, the banner has recently started producing fiction and is venturing into hybrid narration with “Paradoxes.”
Polo-Ackermann told Variety that Imagissime “connected with this project because of its quality — all the work Atlas has been doing for years in a highly innovative field, always with the story at the center of everything.”
“Pierre has incredible talent, with a universe that sits right at the edge of the absurd to tackle the theme of mental health,” she says, adding that this subject is universal, citing “Patrick Melrose” starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a rich dandy suffering from a heroin addiction. There’s also “Vie Privée,” starring Jodie Foster as a therapist who falls into neurosis after a patient’s suicide.
Atlas V COO Oriane Hurard said the banner started developing “Paradoxes” a year-and-a-half ago, and stemmed directly from Zandrowicz’s artistic deep dive into generative AI.
Despite its cutting-edge aesthetic, the writing process on “Paradoxe” followed a traditional path. Arte paired Zandrowicz with two seasoned comedy writers, Donzel and Valentin, who have worked across OCS, France Télévisions and Disney+, Hurard said.
Arte’s digital creation unit also played a key role in shepherding “Paradoxes” whose visual pipeline is highly sophisticated. While the real world depicted in the series is shot traditionally with actors in physical locations, Roman’s inner psyche (also called the zone) is designed with generative AI, explained Hurard, who also pointed out the complex transitional sequences, such as characters crossing the portal between real world and psyche, required mixed techniques, including green-screen setups, 3D mapping and motion-capture.
“Paradoxes” also drew unexpected support from the French Army and Mission Cinema who oined the project after watching the prototype video put together by Atlas V and Imagissime. Their backing went far beyond location access — the production has had access to military training grounds, tents and vehicles, and even benefited from consultants advising actors on terminology and weapons-handling. Recent scenes were filmed on the Montlhéry military base and the production is now filming at Bry-sur-Marne studios.
Hurard framed “Paradoxes” as a natural evolution of Atlas V’s decade-long collaboration with Arte, spanning from early VR shorts to bringing generative AI into narrative storytelling. Yet, Polo-Ackermann says “Paradoxes” isn’t an experimental work, but rather a “series rooted in traditional fiction that uses cutting-edge tools to explore the uncharted landscapes of the mind with a blend of emotional surrealism and sharp comedy.”