Felix & Paul Studios Adds Key Hires, Expands Into AR, MR and Immersive Installations with Over 30 Projects in Development
Martin Enault Joins as Chief Operating Officer; Academy Award® Winner Ian Cavén Joins as Senior Researcher, Jenna Seiden Joins as Company Advisor; Anil Pereira Named Board Chair
MONTREAL, and SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Felix & Paul Studios, the EMMY® Award-winning creator of immersive entertainment experiences, today announced several key appointments to accelerate the company's growth as a leader in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) storytelling. Martin Enault has joined the studio as Chief Operating Officer; Ian Cavén joins as Senior Researcher; Jenna Seiden joins as a company advisor; and Anil Pereira has been elected Chairman of the board of directors. Felix & Paul Studios has over 30 marquee VR, AR, MR and immersive installation projects in its development pipeline. The studio was recently ranked #30 on Deloitte's 2018 Canadian Technology Fast 50™, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in Canada.
"As we broaden our development pipeline beyond VR to include large-scale projects in augmented reality and mixed reality, it is critical that we have the team in place to execute our strategy both in North America and in major international markets," said Stéphane Rituit, co-founder and CEO of Felix & Paul Studios. "I am thrilled that Martin, with his proven track record in global location-based entertainment and distribution, has signed on as our COO—he brings an incredible amount of energy and passion to everything he touches."
Continued Rituit: "I am equally excited that we were able to attract Ian Cavén to the team—his knowledge and skill in image processing and algorithms is renowned in the industry and he will add tremendous depth as we expand into other forms of immersive entertainment. I also look forward to working with Jenna given her unique vantage point at the intersection of entertainment and technology. Finally, I wish to thank Anil for his ongoing contributions to the studio and congratulate him on his election to chairman of our board of directors."
Martin Enault joins Felix & Paul Studios from international business conference leader C2, where he served as Chief Operating Officer of C2 and CEO of C2 Asia-Pacific. An executive with over 18 years of experience in entrepreneurship and events, Enault is known for creating innovative concepts involving business, entertainment and technology. As C2's chief operating officer, he led the company's day-to-day operations and oversaw its business, technological and operational development, as well as its expansion into new markets. Prior to joining C2, he co-founded and headed Intellitix, an award-winning global provider of RFID access control and cashless payment systems for live events. Over the years, he has contributed to the success of thousands of events across the globe.
"VR, AR and MR are all poised for explosive growth through smartphones, tablets, standalone headsets, smart TVs and location-based entertainment venues around the world," said Martin Enault, newly-appointed chief operating officer of Felix & Paul Studios. "I am excited to join this extremely talented team to continue developing high-quality immersive experiences for a much wider consumer audience than ever before."
Ian Cavén joins the studio as Senior Researcher. Cavén is a computer vision expert who has focused his career on the design and implementation of image and video processing algorithms. Earlier in his career, he co-founded a company that restored hundreds of classic motion pictures, for which he and his team received the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award® from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Next, he co-founded another company and created a new color separation encoding for the presentation of "3D" movies on televisions without built-in stereo presentation hardware. Cavén then led the development of algorithms, implemented on a massively parallel graphic processing unit architecture, to determine camera motion and scene structure from sports camera image sequences, allowing those sequences to be stabilized and novel viewpoints to be constructed from them.
Jenna Seiden is a veteran media and technology executive who currently serves as an advisor for LUMO Labs, an emerging technology venture-builder for social impact. She also consults for AR/VR, esports, and video game companies such as Beat Games, SpringboardVR, CAPSL Entertainment and WePlay Live. Her previous operating roles include leading content acquisition at HTC Vive's Viveport home, mobile, and arcade storefronts; overseeing content development and strategic partnerships for Xbox's Microsoft Studios; leading distribution for Disney's Maker Studios; and serving as a video games agent at Creative Artists Agency.
Anil Pereira, who has served as an advisor to the studio since its inception—and as lead independent director for the past 3 years—has been elected Chairman of the board of directors of Felix & Paul Studios. Pereira is a veteran Silicon Valley executive and entrepreneur who serves as an advisor to a number of high-growth companies. He previously founded two technology startups, SecondSpace and Verious, and held executive roles at VeriSign, Classmates.com and American Express. He has been a board member or advisor to over 25 startups, public companies and government innovation programs over the last 20 years.
About Felix & Paul Studios
Felix & Paul Studios is an EMMY® Award-winning immersive entertainment studio, creating unparalleled virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality experiences for audiences worldwide. The studio combines technological innovation with a unique, pioneering and in-depth approach to the new art of XR storytelling—creating groundbreaking original immersive experiences (MIYUBI, Nomads series, Strangers, The Confessional, Space Explorers series); awe-inspiring productions with existing franchises (Jurassic World, Cirque du Soleil, Fox Searchlight's Wild and Isle of Dogs); and collaborations with world-renowned organizations, leaders and performers (NASA, SpaceX, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, LeBron James, President Bill Clinton, Eminem, Wes Anderson, Brie Larson, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray and many others). Felix & Paul Studios is the world's only full spectrum immersive entertainment studio, showcasing end-to-end creative capabilities, technological know-how and proprietary tools all within one company. The studio's platform includes best-in-class spherical 3D camera systems, production/post-production software and processes, as well as spatial audio capture, design and processing through its Headspace Studio division. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada with offices in Los Angeles, CA, Felix & Paul Studios has a highly experienced team of over 60 immersive media specialists and is backed by leading venture capital funds and institutional investors.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Bianka Pomponi/Greg Feingold
Felix & Paul Studios
pr(at)felixandpaul(dot)com
SOURCE Felix & Paul Studios
Share this article