Felix & Paul Studios
Felix & Paul Studios is a Montreal-based creator specializing in virtual reality entertainment. The studio is known for its originals Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, and Traveling While Black.
Felix & Paul Studios is recognized as an official implementation partner by the ISS National Lab. The studio has earned five Canadian Screen Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Daytime Emmy, along with numerous other awards and acknowledgments.
History
Felix & Paul Studios was founded in 2013 by directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël and producer Stéphane Rituit. Lajeunesse and Raphaël teamed up to co-direct music videos and commercials. Eventually, they turned their attention to immersive cinematic experiences, creating 3D film installations. Felix & Paul Studios' first VR experience, Strangers With Patrick Watson, was released at South by Southwest in 2014. The experience, filmed in Patrick Watson’s studio, features the Canadian musician writing and performing an original song. The camera system and capture technology to create the experience were designed and built by the studio.In July 2015, the studio signed a deal with Facebook’s Oculus to create cinematic virtual reality experiences for the Oculus platform. In June 2016, the studio announced a $6.8 million Series A round of funding, led by Comcast Ventures.
In 2017, the studio released Miyubi, its first original fiction experience. At over 40 minutes long, it was dubbed the “first full length VR film”.
The studio has released 29 virtual reality experiences in collaboration with organizations such as Cirque du Soleil, Uninterrupted, Universal Pictures, Fox Searchlight, Funny or Die, National Geographic, and the National Film Board of Canada. Public figures who have been featured in Felix & Paul Studios experiences include President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Lebron James, President Bill Clinton, Eminem, Brie Larson, Wes Anderson, Jeff Goldblum, PJ Byrne, Trevor Noah, Judd Apatow, and Howie Mandel.
In January 2019, the studio announced a collaboration with TIME and NASA to produce Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a four-chapter series filmed in cinematic virtual reality aboard the International Space Station with the collaboration of the astronaut crew. Additional chapters in the Space Explorers series including Space Explorers: Spacewalkers, Space Explorers: Home Planet, Space Explorers: Women in Spaceflight, the Space Explorers: Blue Marble trilogy, and Space Explorers: Apollo to Artemis were released in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
In 2019, the studio released Traveling While Black, directed by Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams. Also in 2019, Felix & Paul Studios released Marshall From Detroit, featuring Eminem and helmed by commercial director Caleb Slain; and the stop-motion VR experience Gymnasia created with Academy Award-nominated duo Clyde Henry Productions.
Felix & Paul Studios co-created with PHI Studio Space Explorers: THE INFINITE, a location-based VR produced by Infinity Experience. Launched in Montreal in 2021, Space Explorers: THE INFINITE is inspired by the Felix & Paul Studios’ Space Explorers series.
In November 2022, Felix & Paul Studios collaborated on the 8K live stream of the Artemis I launch.
In 2023, the studio broadcast its first television documentary Space Explorers - Moonrise on the ISS on Canadian television stations CBC and Radio-Canada. The same year, Felix & Paul Studios premiered an AR Storybook, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens, at the Venice Immersive section of the 80th Venice International Film Festival.