Kickstarter Campaign Turns Netflix Original

Last year, our good friends over at Netflix discovered a small, grassroots independent project from France with a lot of grit, and a lot of heart. Paris est à nous is a groundbreaking experience that plays with reality and fiction, taking risks at every turn and artfully blurring the lines between truth and storytelling.

In recent years, Paris has undergone a surprising amount of tragedy. Beginning the film project in 2014, director Élisabeth Vogler places a whirlwind love story within her solidarity letter to Paris. The script exists to propel the characters and the story, but the locations in which the action takes place, for example, the 2015 "Je suis Charlie" march, serves as the backdrop in all its authenticity.

Originally entitled, "Paris is a Party", the film was meant to exhibit the two extremes of this influential city, between the ups that make it so well loved, with its music, its art and its food, and the hard hitting calamities, such as the November 2015 terrorist attacks, which were actually the deadliest in France since WWII. Needless to say, the film generated a lot of genuine passion and pride behind the scenes and bred hard work amongst everyone involved. Kickstarter reports on Medium that "[screenwriter] Saisset, director Élisabeth Vogler, and a team of roughly 24 actors, writers, cinematographers, audio engineers, VFX artists, and others embarked on this project with essentially no budget, industry clout, or connections. They chipped in their own funds, called in favors, and worked around their day jobs".

After attracting an impressive amount of funding from Kickstarter, a clear sign that the story resonated with a massive audience, the filmmakers were able to cover all post-production costs. All that was left was for streaming media giant Netflix to give them a ring out of nowhere to tell them that the project had caught their attention, and the rest is history.

This month, a true cinematic depiction of modern day Paris will be shared with Netflix users around the world. On February 22, 2019, you can now experience Paris est à nous (or Paris is Us in English) here in the U.S. and if we haven't already convinced you, check out the trailer below!

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- Nicole Eicholtz

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