How can cinema benefit from non-fungible tokens, also called NFTs — unique digital assets whose ownership is easily traceable by anyone? And how can a film’s social impact be expanded by this new technology? The team behind Houria, from Franco-Algerian director Mounia Meddour, will showcase this innovative strategy during a special event at Cannes Film Festival on May 18, where a limited collection of NFTs inspired by the film were unveiled.
Houria stars Lyna Khoudri as a young ballet dancer who loses the ability to speak after an attack. Bringing together dance and sign language, the film continues the feminist trajectory of Meddour’s acclaimed fiction debut feature Papicha.
Meddour and producer Grégoire Gensollen, of Paris-based The Ink Connection, had already ventured into the world of blockchain to complete financing on Papicha, working with Patrice Poujol, CEO of Hong Kong-based company Lumiere. “Patrice suggested that we tokenise the investments of our investors,” says Gensollen. “It meant the contracts would be on the blockchain, easy to see and to transfer, as opposed to classical contracts that would only exist on paper.”
Transparency is at the heart of Web3, the decentralised online space based on blockchain, and Lumiere is already working on setting up an automated, AI-driven traceability device called Elemis (a reference to the early and silent film pioneer Méliès) to make productions more accountable. The trio found on Papicha that this technology could also offer new avenues for reaching the public.
“We saw a young audience appropriate the film, and we wanted to build on that for Houria,” Poujol explains. “Both NFTs and the film could reach young people familiar with new media and technologies, who perhaps already have a crypto wallet and some experience with NFTs.”
It is a dynamic they believe can also work the other way around. “We can provoke a constructive dialogue with people who aren’t initially concerned with the themes of the film,” Meddour explains. “Very young gamers can be interested in the digital experience we offer, therefore opening them to unexpected topics such as the journey of a young ballerina in post-civil war Algeria.”
Designing the NFTs’ creative assets and providing the online platform for their distribution is MADwomen, an affiliate of Hong Kong-based company MADworld that seeks to “empower female creators in the digital space”, explains co-founder Kelly Leung. The NFTs will be sold at affordable prices, with the aim to grow the ranks of NFT buyers, but also to increase the social impact of the film.
“The NFT in itself is a utility, and it’s also a donation,” Poujol explains. Ten per cent of gross profits from the sale of Houria NFTs will go to Femmes Sourdes Citoyennes et Solidaires, a Paris-based non-profit organisation chosen by Meddour for its support of deaf women who have often, like Khoudri’s character in the film, been subjected to violence. As with the investor contracts on Papicha, the 10 per cent donation from the NFTs’ sale will be easily traceable.
In line with the transparency and decentralisation at the heart of the project, and with what Poujol calls a “phygital” strategy bridging the gap between analogue and digital worlds, the private event will allow the owners of the digital assets to meet the team behind both the film and the non-profit organisation.
“Besides the virtual digital world,” says Meddour, “it was also important to show the reality on the ground — the authors behind these stories, the directors creating these films and images, but also the dancers, the people from the organisation, with sign-language translators.”
Leung emphasises this connection between online and IRL worlds, describing the Cannes event as “an opportunity for charities, NGOs and other social organisations to see there are technology companies with platforms that can help them”.
“In Cannes, people go from one drinks reception to another,” Gensollen adds. “There is all that glitter and glamour, but here, maybe they can have a moment to think, ‘Oh, cinema can also do that — make things move, change lives and perception, create a dialogue.’”
Buzz in the metaverse
It is a vision Lumiere is continuing well beyond the Cannes event. The company already offers other tools for supporting film projects — “phygital” products, metaverse and XR experiences — and is also involved in film projects such as The Infinite Machine, telling the story of Ethereum, the second-biggest digital asset in the world behind only Bitcoin, co-produced by Versus Entertainment. Its most ambitious project remains the Lumiverse, described by Poujol as an “embassy for cinema”. The multiverse environment will have a presence in several metaverses at once, offering exclusive experiences related to the films it supports and connecting a large community of film lovers.
Contact: Patrice Poujol, CEO, Lumiere
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