Felix & Paul Studios

Felix & Paul Studios is a Canadian immersive-entertainment studio founded in 2013 by directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël and producer Stéphane Rituit. The company emerged from the founders’ earlier work directing music videos, commercials, and other screen-based productions, then moved toward immersive cinematic experiences and three-dimensional installations as virtual reality developed into an emerging entertainment medium. The studio’s first virtual-reality experience, Strangers With Patrick Watson, premiered at the South by Southwest festival in 2014. That early project established an approach centered on placing viewers inside carefully directed environments rather than presenting conventional flat-screen films through a headset. Felix & Paul subsequently produced original immersive works spanning music, documentary, social-issue storytelling, entertainment, and large-scale nonfiction experiences. The studio is particularly associated with Traveling While Black, an immersive documentary experience examining the history and contemporary realities of Black travelers in the United States. The project uses virtual reality to connect personal testimony, historical context, and the significance of safe spaces during travel under racial segregation and its aftermath. It helped demonstrate the studio’s interest in using immersive media for subjects that benefit from a heightened sense of presence and physical proximity. Another major body of work is Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, produced in association with Time Studios. The project documents life and work aboard the International Space Station and has been described as the largest production filmed entirely in space. Its production required specialized capture and storytelling methods adapted to the station’s confined, technically complex environment. Felix & Paul Studios is recognized as an official implementation partner by the ISS National Lab, reflecting its involvement in developing and producing immersive content connected with the station and space research ecosystem. The studio later expanded the Space Explorers concept through The Infinite, a multisensory and interactive virtual-reality experience based on the International Space Station material. Unlike a conventional seated headset film, The Infinite combines immersive imagery with a physical exhibition environment, allowing visitors to move through an installation while engaging with a virtual representation of the station. This format illustrates Felix & Paul’s broader strategy of combining cinematic capture, interactive technology, spatial design, and public exhibition. Felix & Paul Studios operates at the intersection of film production, virtual reality, experiential entertainment, and cultural installation. Its work has received five Canadian Screen Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and one Daytime Emmy, in addition to other awards and industry recognition. The company’s public identity is primarily associated with premium immersive storytelling and the development of new production techniques for environments that are difficult or impossible to film through conventional methods.

Felix & Paul Studios was founded in 2013 by directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël together with producer Stéphane Rituit. Lajeunesse and Raphaël had previously collaborated on music videos and commercials. Their work gradually moved toward immersive and three-dimensional forms of presentation, leading them to establish a studio dedicated to cinematic virtual-reality experiences. The company’s first VR production, Strangers With Patrick Watson, was released at South by Southwest in 2014. The project introduced the studio’s interest in using immersive capture to create a stronger sense of presence between viewer, performer, and environment. Rather than treating virtual reality solely as a display format, Felix & Paul approached it as a distinct production language requiring different forms of directing, cinematography, editing, and audience design. The studio’s subsequent work covered music, documentary, social issues, entertainment, and large-scale experiential installations. Traveling While Black became one of its best-known documentary works. The experience explores the history and lived experience of Black travelers in the United States, using immersive testimony and environments to examine questions of racial safety, mobility, memory, and public space. Felix & Paul later undertook increasingly ambitious productions connected with human spaceflight. Space Explorers: The ISS Experience was produced in association with Time Studios and filmed aboard the International Space Station. The production has been identified as the largest production filmed entirely in space. Capturing material in orbit required the studio to adapt its equipment, workflows, and storytelling practices to the station’s limited space, operational constraints, and unusual visual environment. The project established the studio as a prominent producer of space-related immersive nonfiction. The studio’s relationship with the space sector also includes recognition as an official implementation partner by the ISS National Lab. This connection supported its work to bring the station and its occupants to audiences through immersive media while linking entertainment production with public engagement around scientific and technological activity in orbit. The Infinite extended Space Explorers into a multisensory and interactive format. It presents visitors with a physical exhibition environment in which they use virtual reality to explore a digital representation of the International Space Station. The experience reflects Felix & Paul’s development beyond headset-based films toward location-based entertainment that integrates spatial design, movement, interaction, and cinematic narrative. Across its catalog, Felix & Paul Studios has pursued projects that depend on immersion as an editorial and emotional tool. Its productions often place audiences inside culturally significant, inaccessible, or difficult-to-film settings, including sites of historical memory and the space station. The company has received five Canadian Screen Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and one Daytime Emmy, along with additional awards and professional recognition. Its position in the media industry is defined by the combination of film craftsmanship, immersive technology, documentary practice, and experiential exhibition.

• 2014

  First VR experience premieres

  [1]Felix & Paul Studiosen.wikipedia.org

  Strangers With Patrick Watson is presented at South by Southwest as the studio’s first virtual-reality experience.

• 2013

  Felix & Paul Studios is founded

  [1]Felix & Paul Studiosen.wikipedia.org

  Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël, and Stéphane Rituit establish the Canadian immersive-media studio.

• Traveling While Black becomes a signature documentary work

  [1]Felix & Paul Studiosen.wikipedia.org

  The studio releases an immersive documentary focused on Black travel, racial segregation, and the importance of safe spaces in the United States.

• Space Explorers: The ISS Experience is produced

  [1]Felix & Paul Studiosen.wikipedia.org

  In association with Time Studios, Felix & Paul produces an immersive series filmed aboard the International Space Station.

• The Infinite extends the ISS project into location-based VR

  [1]Felix & Paul Studiosen.wikipedia.org

  The studio develops a multisensory and interactive exhibition based on the Space Explorers material.

A premium immersive-media studio focused on cinematic virtual reality, documentary storytelling, interactive installations, and technically ambitious experiences in unusual environments.

• Virtual-reality music experience · 2014

  Strangers With Patrick Watson

  Felix & Paul Studios’ first virtual-reality experience, created around musician Patrick Watson. Released at South by Southwest in 2014, it established the studio’s early focus on immersive performance and cinematic presence.

• Immersive documentary

  Traveling While Black

  An immersive documentary experience addressing the history and continuing realities of Black travel in the United States. It explores racial segregation, personal testimony, and the role of safe spaces through an environment designed for close, situated viewing.

• Immersive space documentary

  Space Explorers: The ISS Experience

  A virtual-reality series produced with Time Studios and filmed aboard the International Space Station. The project documents astronauts’ daily lives and work while demonstrating specialized immersive production in orbit.

• Location-based interactive VR experience

  The Infinite

  A multisensory and interactive exhibition derived from Space Explorers: The ISS Experience. Visitors move through a physical installation while using virtual reality to explore an interactive representation of the International Space Station.

1. 1Felix & Paul Studiosen.wikipedia.org