Box Chosen to Collect Archival Footage for Jean-Jacques Annaud's Original Feature Film, Notre-Dame brûle

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud calls for personal video submissions of the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire, enabled by the Box platform, for his new feature film.

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Box, the leading Content Cloud, today announced that Notre-Dame brûle [Notre-Dame on fire], an unreleased French feature film about the April 2019 fire in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, is using Box as a secure, integrated platform to collect archival footage for inclusion in this first-of-its-kind film production.

Notre-Dame brûle is being directed by renowned filmmaker, Jean-Jacques Annaud and produced by Pathé Films. The film will depict a minute-by-minute portrayal of the twenty-four hours surrounding the famous cathedral’s burning through a reconstruction filmed in-studio, mixed with real video-images taken by the public. To collect the archival content from members of the public, Notre-Dame brûle embedded Box in a widely-advertised, dedicated website. Over 3000 videos were submitted.

“The tragedy of the Notre-Dame fire was felt globally, and we hoped our call for personal videos would generate significant public response,” said Johann Frarier, Director of Information Systems at Pathé Films. “Jean-Jacques Annaud wanted to gather content that captured the emotional response to the fire, from singing for firefighters in the streets of Paris to reactions abroad. Box was the secure and robust platform we needed to ensure the public could easily answer that call. It was a real challenge and the results exceeded our expectations.”

Powered by Box File Request, the Notre-Dame brûle website guides submissions through a custom-workflow, enabling:

• Compliance with data privacy and production agreements;
• Uploads of rich media content, including large file sizes, from any device; and
• Collection of contact details for the submission.

The uploaded content is then tagged with those metadata details, enabling the production team to easily search and organize, as well as preview the videos within Box with Box Preview.

“Notre-Dame brûle and Pathé Films are using cutting-edge technologies to bring the story of the fire to life,” said Rodolphe Barnault, Area Vice President of Southern Europe at Box. “We are extremely proud to be involved in this important groundbreaking film which captures a seminal moment in French history.”

With today’s announcement, Notre-Dame brûle joins project teams at leading organizations that have leveraged Box to power new ways of working, including Rémy Cointreau, Endemol Shine, and Eurostar. In 2021, Box also announced a partnership with Dolby to transform media in the cloud. For more on Box solutions for Media and Entertainment, click here.

About Notre-Dame brûle

The feature film by Jean-Jacques Annaud reconstructs the hour-by-hour reality of the events of April 15, 2019 when the cathedral suffered the most important disaster in its history, and how women and men will put their lives in peril as part of the incredible and heroic rescue. Notre-Dame Brûle will be in French theatres March 16, 2022. For more, visit https://notredameonfire.org/.

About Box

Box (NYSE:BOX) is a leading Content Cloud that enables organisations to accelerate business processes, power workplace collaboration, and protect their most valuable information, all while working with a best-of-breed enterprise IT stack. Founded in 2005, Box simplifies work for leading organizations globally, including AstraZeneca, JLL, and Morgan Stanley. Box is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. To learn more about Box, visit http://www.box.com. To learn more about how Box powers nonprofits to fulfill their missions, visit Box.org.