Awards

Produced by Agat Films – Ex Nihilo, L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche is a powerful film that blends political storytelling with an intimate human journey. To bring this little-known chapter of history to life, over 100 VFX shots were crafted by the MPC Paris team, under the supervision of Lise Fischer.

The entire image post-production was also handled in-house at our Hauteville studio in Paris. A bold project, driven by a commitment to historical accuracy and visual integrity.

This film isn’t about fantasy – it’s about history. And making history feel real on screen can be more demanding than inventing it.”

Lise Fischer – VFX Supervisor

To remain faithful to historical reality while respecting the filmmaker’s vision and production constraints, the decision was made to use archival footage as the primary material for all wide shots establishing key sequences. The team combined advanced digital techniques — CGI environments, matte painting and compositing — with meticulous documentary research based on historical archives.

Between archives and digital creation

Among the standout sequences are the foundations of the Arche with the iconic concrete “elephant feet,” the rise of the honeycomb-like walls, and the 100-metre-high footbridge that enabled the architectural feat of building the roof.

Sequences at the Louvre — where Ieoh Ming Pei’s pyramid returns to its earliest stages of construction — and on the Champs-Élysées further anchor the story in its era. To ensure visual continuity between archival material and digital reconstruction, MPC Paris developed a custom pipeline that combined upscaling and restoration of the original footage with the creation of 2.5D and full-CGI environments, adding movement and life across the various stages of the builds.

The process also involved precise matte painting and advanced compositing to seamlessly insert studio or green-screen performances into period imagery. Additional 3D simulations and animations were created for key elements such as cranes, machinery, vehicles and pedestrian activity.

This rare and exciting approach — transforming archival photographs into animated shots for a fictional narrative — allowed the team to explore new methods. The result strikes a balance between documentary authenticity and artistic creation, restoring the scale and visual identity of major construction projects of the 1980s. This hybrid workflow, combining documentary rigor with digital artistry, embodies MPC Paris’s philosophy: using technology in service of the filmmaker’s vision.

Picture post-production and colour grading

The image post-production was overseen by Thomas Jodeau, alongside Agat Films’ post-producers Pierre Huot and Mehdi Sellami. The MPC team based on Rue d’Hauteville handled rush management, conforming and part of the final deliverables. Colour grading took place remotely: colourist Yov Moor worked from Japan, with a live projector feed for director Stéphane Demoustier and cinematographer David Chambille, who were based at MPC Paris.