Mathias
Chelebourg.
Writer · DirectorImmersive artist · Creative technologist
3 Emmy Awards Stories you can step into. Films, brand worlds and immersive expeditions, from Chanel to the BBC, and the technology invented to stage them.
3 Emmy Awards.
- Outstanding Interactive Media
- Outstanding Directing Team
- Outstanding Character Design
- Awards won11
Three Emmys and eight festival prizes
- Festivals28
Selected or awarded, including Cannes, Venice and Tribeca
- Venice Film Festival3
Two competitions and a world premiere
- Tribeca2
World premieres: Jack: Part One, Doctor Who: The Runaway
Photo: Victor Boyko / Getty Images
Jury member.
Festival de Cannes · first Immersive Competition
When the Festival de Cannes opened its first competition for immersive works, Mathias Chelebourg sat on the jury that awarded its first Best Immersive Work prize.
- Marie AmachoukeliPresident · director, screenwriter
- Vassiliki KhonsariProducer, co-founder of iNK Stories
- Uri KranotDirector, animation artist
- Raqi SyedArtist, visual effects designer
- Mathias ChelebourgWriter, director
All awards, nominations and selections ↘
- La Biennale di Venezia
Six works, six worlds.
Between animated film, theatre and video games. Honoured at the Emmy Awards, shown at Venice, Tribeca and Annecy.
Baba Yaga.
An interactive ecological fairy tale co-directed with Eric Darnell, voiced by Kate Winslet, Glenn Close, Daisy Ridley and Jennifer Hudson. Three Emmy Awards.
View project →- ✦ Recognition3 Emmy Awards
- ✦ RecognitionVenice Film Festival
- WithKate Winslet · Glenn Close · Daisy Ridley · Jennifer Hudson
Rencontre (s).
Paris, 1921. The visitor becomes Ernest Beaux and presents five fragrance samples to Gabrielle Chanel. The birth of N°5, guided by the voice of Marion Cotillard.
View project →- ✦ RecognitionVenice Immersive
- ✦ Recognition79th Venice Film Festival
- WithMarion Cotillard
Doctor Who, The Runaway.
The first interactive Doctor Who episode. A thirteen-minute single shot, written and directed by Mathias Chelebourg, with Jodie Whittaker.
View project →- ✦ RecognitionTribeca
- ✦ RecognitionSIGGRAPH
- ✦ RecognitionAnnecy
- WithJodie Whittaker
Jack: Part One.
A cyberpunk Jack and the Beanstalk with Lupita Nyong’o: live actors perform for you, inside VR.
View project →- ✦ RecognitionTribeca Film Festival
- ✦ Recognitionworld premiere
- WithLupita Nyong’o
Alice, the VR Play.
Lewis Carroll performed live: actors in real-time motion capture, and mushrooms you actually eat to grow or shrink.
View project →- ✦ RecognitionVenice Film Festival
- ✦ RecognitionGIFF Award, Geneva
The Ghost of Canterville.
Oscar Wilde reimagined for a hundred spectators sharing one animated world. The flagship production of Large Field Theater.
View project →- ✦ RecognitionAnnecy Festival
- ✦ Recognitionin production
Three other strands.
Documentary and fiction for broadcasters, dance and installation with choreographers and museums, and the research that feeds the rest.
Documentary and fiction· ARTE · OCS · France Télévisions
The Real Thing
A 360° journey through China’s replicas of Paris, London and Venice. Where does the original end?
Alone
A special episode of the series Missions: Alessandra, alone in a cave. Four minutes on a haptic seat.
ECOCITY
Paris, 2049. Three years after the fire that devastated Montmartre, a community of residents reinvents its life in the ruins of the Butte. An augmented reality utopia, within reach of your phone.
Dance, stage and installation· Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle · (LA)HORDE · Rone
Views of a Room
With (LA)HORDE and Rone: an immersive extension of the ballet Room With a View, between VR, projection and physical set design.
Le Parlement des Vivants
“Should humanity reshape the world, or allow the world to transform humanity?” In the Great Greenhouses of the Jardin des Plantes, flowers, mosses and trees take the floor.
Research and technology· Virtual production · live motion capture at Chaillot
Mado
まど, “window” in Japanese: a twelve-metre LED volume and a short film shot in real time.
LIFE
A dancer on stage, her digital double on screen, at the same instant. LIFE puts real-time motion capture at the service of live performance.
For the houses.
Films, installations and experiences for Chanel, Hermès, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada and other houses.
Rencontre(s)
Paris, 1921. The visitor becomes Ernest Beaux and presents five fragrance samples to Gabrielle Chanel. The birth of N°5, guided by the voice of Marion Cotillard.
View project →
Hermès
The Trunk.
Dior
Dior Prestige, a series of 360° films for the Dior Eyes headset.
Louis Vuitton
Prada
L’Homme Prada × La Femme Prada, with Mia Wasikowska and Dane DeHaan.
All 12 houses and brands
Nike
The new AS Monaco kit, in 360°.
Adidas
Nespresso
Orange
UEFA Euro, with Zinédine Zidane.
Renault
Renault Sport F1, Brazilian Grand Prix.
Heineken
With Konbini.
Chivas Regal
The Chivas Taste Discovery.
Venturi
The electric world speed record.
L’Homme Prada × La Femme Prada, interactive VR experience
UEFA Euro, virtual reality film
AS Monaco, the new kit in 360°
Brazilian Grand Prix
Brand film
Collection film
Vitality, documentary series
Colombe, music video
Won, nominated, selected.
The full record, award by award: eleven wins, three of them Emmys, two further nominations and four competitions, across twenty-eight festivals.
Winner· 11
- Emmy Award, Outstanding Interactive MediaDaytime Emmy AwardsBaba Yaga
- Emmy Award, Outstanding Directing TeamDaytime Emmy AwardsBaba Yaga
- Emmy Award, Outstanding Character DesignDaytime Emmy AwardsBaba Yaga
- Masque d’or, Best Immersive WorkNewImages Festival, ParisThe Real Thing
- Best Digital ExperienceGeneva International Film FestivalAlice, the VR Play
- Best VR Short FilmGuanajuato International Film FestivalThe Real Thing
5 more
- Best VR FilmSandbox Immersive Festival, QingdaoThe Real Thing
- Best DocumentarySatis · 360 Film FestivalThe Real Thing
- Best VR ExperienceCervignano Film FestivalThe Real Thing
- WinnerRaindanceThe Real Thing
- Special MentionMilano Design Film FestivalThe Real Thing
Nominated · In competition· 6
- Emmy nominee, Outstanding Derivative Interactive ProgramEmmy AwardsDoctor Who: The Runaway
- Annecy Cristal nominee, VR WorksAnnecy International Animation Film FestivalDoctor Who: The Runaway
- In competition, Venice Virtual Reality74th Venice Film FestivalAlice, the VR Play
- In competition, Venice Immersive79th Venice Film FestivalRencontre(s)
- Official competition, US premiereFuture of StoryTelling, New YorkAlice, the VR Play
- Official competitionDubai International Film FestivalAlice, the VR Play
Premieres · Official selections· 12
- World premiere, Venice VR Expanded77th Venice Film FestivalBaba Yaga
- World premiere, Tribeca Virtual ArcadeTribeca Film FestivalJack: Part One
- World premiereTribeca Film FestivalDoctor Who: The Runaway
- XR Work in ProgressAnnecy FestivalRetour à Canterville
- Official selectionSIGGRAPHDoctor Who: The Runaway
- Official selection, Alternate RealitiesSheffield Doc/FestThe Real Thing
6 more
- Official selectionHot Docs · DOK Leipzig · MelbourneThe Real Thing
- Official selectionTaipei · Kaohsiung · Camden · Festival du nouveau cinémaThe Real Thing
- Official selectionBAFICI · Cleveland International Film FestivalThe Real Thing
- Official selectionLuxembourg City Film FestivalAlice, the VR Play
- Official collectionPhi Centre, MontréalAlice, the VR Play · The Real Thing
- Presented in 4DSéries ManiaAlone
- Kate WinsletBaba Yaga
- Marion CotillardRencontre(s)
- Glenn CloseBaba Yaga
- Lupita Nyong’oJack: Part One
- Daisy RidleyBaba Yaga
- Jodie WhittakerDoctor Who
- Jennifer HudsonBaba Yaga
- Eric DarnellBaba Yaga
- (LA)HORDEViews of a Room
- RoneViews of a Room
- Ramy FischlerLe Parlement des Vivants
- Benoît FeliciThe Real Thing
- Baobab Studios
- Passion Pictures
- Iconoclast
- Wanda
Founder, publisher, inventor.
A studio to build the tools, a publishing house to think the field, and three technologies born from the works themselves.
Atelier Daruma.
Built by engineers, inspired by artists. A one stop shop innovation house for immersive creation: proprietary technologies, award-winning experiences and brand content for the great houses.
- Technologies R&D
- Immersive experiences
- Brand content
- Publishing
immersive.paris
A collection of books on experience design in an age of disruption, and a daily observatory of immersive creation: works, venues, technologies and events.
- IP Gastronomy
- IP Dance
- Premium B to B Edition
- the daily · the map
Mathias Chelebourg Presents the Immersive.paris® Collectionimmersive.paris ↗
Large Field Theater®
Up to a hundred spectators share one physical space and one virtual world, with no markers and no fixed infrastructure. International patent application, priority date 20 February 2025.
LIFE™
Live Interactive Full Embodiment: performers drive their avatars in Unreal Engine with under 100 ms of latency, in front of the audience. A France 2030 laureate.
morphIA
Characters that listen, understand and answer. morphIA talks out loud with several spectators at once, reads their position and gaze, and holds the story together.
Emotion through ambitious technologies.
One conviction: each ambitious project can move the whole field forward, provided its innovations are then turned into products open to the industry. That is the method.
- 01
An ambitious work
Each project starts from an emotion to produce, and sets a bar no existing tool can reach.
- 02
The technology it demands
The missing tools are invented for the work itself, under real production conditions, in front of a real audience.
- 03
A product open to the industry
What the work invented is then turned into a product any studio, venue or artist can use. Live motion capture became LIFE, hundred-spectator theatre became the Large Field Theater, talking characters became morphIA.
AI characters and agents
Voice agents that listen, understand and answer several people at once, read position and gaze, and stay inside a story. Editorial agents that scan a whole field every day.
LED walls and virtual production
A twelve-metre LED volume designed, engineered and pushed to its limits with a short film shot in real time.
Hundred-headset theatres
Up to a hundred spectators in one physical space and one virtual world, with no markers and no fixed infrastructure, run by a single operator.
Live motion capture
Performers driving their digital doubles in Unreal Engine with under 100 ms of latency, in front of an audience.
Web-based platforms
Operator consoles, simulators and publishing platforms built for the browser: a show controlled from a web interface, an observatory mapping 190 immersive venues.
Scenography-based installations
Physical sets, props, haptics and scent synchronised with the story, and spatial sound that follows each visitor through a real place.
France 2030
Concours d’innovation, operated by Bpifrance, for the Large Field Theater.
France 2030 · PIA4
« Expérience augmentée du spectacle vivant », operated by Caisse des Dépôts and Banque des Territoires, for LIFE.
Creative Europe MEDIA
European funding for The Ghost of Canterville.
CNC
Fonds d’aide aux expériences numériques, for Canterville.
All 8 grants
Mondes nouveaux
Commission for Le Parlement des Vivants, at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.
Innov’Up Leader
Paris Region innovation grant, with the XLVR programme.
SACD
Authors’ society support for The Ghost of Canterville.
Jeune Entreprise Innovante
French innovative company status for Atelier Daruma.
In the press.
From Variety, Forbes and Deadline to the trade press of animation, VR and immersive theatre: 24 articles on the works.
- UploadVR
Marion Cotillard Voices Coco Chanel in Immersive VR Project ‘Rencontre(s)’
At Tribeca Film Festival, Virtual Reality With Real Actors Steals The Show
Kate Winslet, Jennifer Hudson, Glenn Close Join Cast of Venice’s ‘Baba Yaga’
Mathias Chelebourg Presents the Immersive.paris® Collection
‘The Real Thing’ Embodies The Future Of Storytelling Through Space
Jennifer Hudson Wins Daytime Emmy, Becoming One Award Short of an EGOT
‘The Witchverse’ Anthology Series Based On Baobab Studios’ “Baba Yaga” VR Experience In Works At Disney+
Virtual Reality Studio Baobab’s Message of Climate Change Leads to U.N. Partnership
What happens inside Tribeca’s hit VR experience “Jack”?
Doctor Who: The Runaway Is A Must-See For Fans Of The TV Show
All 24 articles
‘Jack: Part One,’ and Some Parting Thoughts
Doctor Who: The Runaway, the VR episode premiering at Tribeca
Nine VR Works Selected to Compete at Annecy 2019
A third Emmy for Baba Yaga
Baobab Studios’ ‘Baba Yaga’ Now Available on Oculus Quest
Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong’o Voicing Live Animation ‘Jack’ for Baobab
Lupita Nyong’o to voice giant in VR animated ‘Jack’
Lupita Nyong’o Collaborates With Baobab Studios For The First-Ever Live Animated Experience ‘Jack’
International VR Experiences to Compete at Paris’s NewImages Festival
Alice, the Virtual Reality Play: when the real and the virtual meet
Mathias Chelebourg, itinéraire d’un passionné de réalité virtuelle
Mathias Chelebourg, interview
Réalité virtuelle : la naissance d’une ébullition créatrice qui nous mènera vers une grammaire nouvelle
Laval Virtual: collective immersion changes scale with Atelier Daruma and Matts Digital
A writer, director and producer, Mathias Chelebourg works where animated film, theatre and video games meet. His pieces put the viewer at the centre of the story.
With Eric Darnell he wrote and co-directed Baba Yaga, voiced by Kate Winslet, Glenn Close, Daisy Ridley and Jennifer Hudson: three Emmy Awards and a partnership with the United Nations. The film then became the starting point of The Witchverse, an animated anthology series developed for Disney+, for which he wrote the visual and editorial bible. For Chanel he created Rencontre(s), an installation guided by the voice of Marion Cotillard, in competition at the 79th Venice Film Festival. For the BBC he wrote and directed The Runaway, the first interactive episode of Doctor Who, with Jodie Whittaker.
Before that: Alice, the VR Play, shown at Cannes then at Venice, Jack: Part One with Lupita Nyong’o at Tribeca, and The Real Thing, a documentary co-directed with Benoît Felici for ARTE. He has also directed films and experiences for Prada, Dior, Hermès, Chanel, Nike and Renault.
He started out on other people’s sets: on Camille Henrot’s Grosse Fatigue, awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale, on the first season of Connasse with Silex Films, and on Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
He founded the Paris studio Atelier Daruma, where he develops the Large Field Theater and is preparing The Ghost of Canterville. He lectures at Royal Holloway in London, the Seoul university of the arts and the Biennale College, and has served on juries at the Festival de Cannes, the Annecy Festival and the British Animation Awards. On the CNC’s visual and sound creation commission, he helped support films such as Le Règne animal, Tirailleurs, Les Trois Mousquetaires and Mars Express.
- Grosse FatigueCamille Henrot · Silver Lion, Venice Biennale
- Connasse, season oneSilex Films · Canal+
- Valerian and the City of a Thousand PlanetsLuc Besson
- Languages
- French, native · English, fluent · German · Japanese · Greek, basic
- Craft
- Writing · Directing · Creative direction · Experience design
- Technology
- Real-time engines · Motion capture · Virtual production · XR · Generative AI
- Business
- Studio founder · Producer · Publisher · Investor
Talks, juries, teaching.
On stage at Venice and Cannes, for the launches of immersive.paris, the live demonstrations of LIFE, on festival juries and in the schools where the next formats are being invented.
Beyond Technology
Immersive experiences as a global cultural market: the immersive.paris research, presented at the Venice Production Bridge.
Immersive Market
Immersive, from experimentation to distribution, alongside the president of Matts Digital.
LE BOOK Connections
Presenting the immersive.paris collection to the international creative community.
Special Editions
In conversation with curator Luca Marchetti, on books at the crossroads of design and publishing.
IP Gastronomy
Launch of the first volume of the immersive.paris collection, with chef Ramzi Saade.
Chaillot Augmenté × TMNlab
LIFE on stage: a dancer and her digital double, in front of more than two hundred professionals.
Spectacle Vivant, Scènes Numériques
First public demonstration of LIFE, with Dark Euphoria and dancer Irina Bashuk.
Aegean Film Festival
A retrospective in five VR works, the festival’s first immersive exhibition, and a seat on the short film jury.
Photo: Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0
Talks and conferences22
- Venice Immersive, Venice Film FestivalBeyond Technology: immersive experiences as a global cultural market, panel
- Marché du Film, Festival de CannesImmersive, from experimentation to distribution, talk
- Première Classe × LE BOOK, Jardin des TuileriesImmersive and the future of retail, conference
- LE BOOK Connections, Pavillon GabrielThe immersive.paris collection, keynote
- Laval VirtualFirst public demonstration of Large Field Theater
- Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3Digital stages, with LIFE and Dark Euphoria
- Château Éphémère, with La Fabrique de la DanseDance and Technology incubator, LIFE lab
- Ephemera, Jungle Palace, ParisIP Gastronomy, presentation and signing
- ATICA, ParisLaunch of the immersive.paris collection, IP Gastronomy
- CRAVAN, ParisSpecial Editions, in conversation with Luca Marchetti
- Chaillot, Théâtre national de la DanseLIFE at Chaillot Augmenté × TMNlab
- Aegean Film Festival, PatmosRetrospective and first VR exhibition
- Festival d’Avignon, Grenier à SelFirst LIFE demonstration, Spectacle Vivant Scènes Numériques
- Annecy FestivalRetour à Canterville, work in progress
- Institut français × Fisheye, ArlesImmersive writing masterclass, VR residency
- StoryFutures Academy, United KingdomMasterclass
- Stereopsia Europe, BrusselsSpeaker
- TED JapanThe State of VR
- BBC Innovation LabFuture of Storytelling masterclass
- Laval DigitalVR and Brand Content
- Forum Blanc, Le Grand-BornandBranding at the Immersive Age
- Popcon Asia, JakartaDigital French Touch
Juries5
- Festival de CannesFirst Immersive Competition, jury chaired by Marie Amachoukeli
- Aegean Film Festival, PatmosShort film jury, and curator of the first VR exhibition
- Annecy International Animation Film FestivalVR Works jury, awarding the Cristal
- Berlin Fashion Film FestivalJury member
- British Animation AwardsJury member
Institutions8
- CNCVisual and sound creation commission · Le Règne animal, Tirailleurs, Les Trois Mousquetaires, Mars Express
- France 2030 · Banque des TerritoiresLaureate with LIFE, augmented live performance
- Mondes nouveaux, ministère de la CultureLe Parlement des Vivants, with Ramy Fischler
- Muséum national d’Histoire naturelleLe Parlement des Vivants, Jardin des Plantes
- Institut françaisImmersive writing residency in Arles, international touring of Alice
- Creative Europe MEDIADevelopment support, The Ghost of Canterville
- CNC · BpifranceDigital experiences fund, innovation funding
- PXN · AnimFranceMember
Teaching and research8
- Mines Paris – PSLMareva research project, patron of the Institute for Digital Transformations
- Université Paris 8Teaching and mentoring
- Gobelins, ParisTeaching and mentoring
- Isart DigitalTeaching and mentoring
- Royal Holloway · StoryFutures AcademyMasterclass
- National Film and Television School, LondonGuest lecturer
- Korea National University of Arts, SeoulGuest lecturer
- Biennale College, VeniceGuest expert