Empereur

Empereur is an interactive and narrative experience in virtual reality, which invites the user to travel inside the brain of a father, suffering from aphasia. It is the story of a man who’s lost his ability to speak, and of the daughter trying to communicate with him. It is the story of a woman, who wasn’t given the chance to know the man behind her father, now obscured by this illness. As she tries to piece together what remains of his language, she discovers that his relationship to words is connected to his memories. The memories of an entire lifetime... Step by step, clue after clue, we will dive alongside her into the inner world of this man, in an attempt to decipher the story he can no longer tell us. In a monochrome aesthetic, close to traditional animation, this personal story is told as a journey with surreal overtones, exploring aphasia as a faraway land.
Empereur is a poetic experience of the loss of one’s faculties, of the passing of time, and of the bonds that, despite everything, remain.

Empereur is born from a true story, that of Marion’s father, who has been suffering from aphasia for the past fifteen years. He mixes up words, and stumbles over every syllable. He understands everything, but can no longer make himself understood. More than the medical aspect of his condition, she was interested in the poetry of some of the absurd situations which she had sometimes encountered. One day she found herself comparing aphasia to a distant country. She could see him lost in this faraway land, trying to find his way around and make himself understood. This idea helped her to imagine his distress, and a bridge to try to reach him. But to grasp what he was trying to say, she would have to dig into the man he had been. Empereur is at once a deeply personal story, and a universal reminder of the fragile threads that bind us to one another.

PRODUCTION 1: Oriane Hurard – Atlas V
13, rue de Mont-Louis
75011 – Paris, France
Tel. +33 661431502
oriane@atlasv.io
http://atlasv.io/

PRODUCTION 2: Katharina Weser – Reynard Films
Plautstraße, 27-29
04179 – Leipzig, Germany
Tel. +49 34124062213
katharina@reynardfilms.com
http://www.reynardfilms.de/

PRODUCTION 3: Jeanne Marchalot – France Télévisions
7 Espl. Henri de France
75015 – Paris, France
Tel. +33 156226000
jeanne.marchalot@france.tv

WORLD SALES: Danielle Giroux - Astrea
13, rue de Mont-Louis
75011 – Paris, France
Tel. +33 147000301
danielle@astreaimmersive.io
http://astreaimmersive.io/