Le Musk A Brave New Front Opens at Hollywood

By Pickle October 31, 2022

Having an exclusive North America Premiere at Infinity Festival Hollywood on November 2-5, 2022, the directorial debut by the pride of India, AR Rahman, incorporates scent into a unique cinematic sensory experience

A.R. Rahman, an international award-winning music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, now has the titles of Film Director and Creator to his vast list of accomplishments. This November, the Oscar, BAFTA, and Grammy-winning composer will make his directorial debut with the multi-sensory virtual reality film Le Musk, which will have its North American debut at the 2022 Infinity Festival Hollywood.

This is undoubtedly a proud occasion for India because an Indian director’s work will be featured for the first time at the premier multiday event that celebrates the brilliance behind Hollywood narrative with the power of Silicon Valley technology.

Le Musk, which can only be experienced in VR motion seats particularly developed for the filmto blend virtual reality with motion, music, aroma, and haptics, also opens new avenues for collaboration between Hollywood and the Indian creative industry that has recently been at the forefront of producing stunning films for the global audience using cutting-edge technologies that redefine cinematic experience.

On November 3 Rahman will moderate a panel discussion regarding the film’s creation with Ravi Velhal (Global Content Strategist, INTEL and Co-Producer) and Lori H. Schwartz (Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Curator), at Goya Studios (1541 N Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood), from 4:00-5:00 pm. Following the panel at 5:15 p.m., an invite-only private press screening of Le Musk will be held at 6565 Sunset Boulevard (6-minute walk from Goya Studios).

With scent being the key to unlocking the story, Le Musk is immersive, pathbreaking and unparalleled as it marks a new frontier in cinema. Earlier, the World Premiere of Le Musk took place at the Cannes XR, which was part of the 75th Cannes Film Festival, to a sold-out audience.

Punctuated by scent, motion and music, LeMusk is a feature that ushers new ground in art and technology, merging worlds, mediums and cultures. The 36-minute film features a global star cast comprising Hollywood actress Nora Arnezeder (Army of the Dead) and Guy Burnet (Oppenheimer) in lead roles, joined by Munirih Grace and Mariam Zohrabyan from Armenia. The film, where technology meets the storytellers, constructs a compelling world of music, motion and scent, following the journey of an orphaned heiress and musician, who grows up to be a woman on a mission. Despite her tumultuous life, she has one constant companion – the lingering Muskan scent.

Centering an unforgettable protagonist in Arnezeder’s Juliet, Le Musk is an ode to music and memory. The movie is a potent portrait ofa woman spurned by the oldest, most treacherous quest of humankind — revenge.

Juliet yearns for normalcy, but her past doesn’t allow her the luxury of mundanity. Dipping into the abstract trenches of the woman’s psyche, Le Musk constructs a compelling world of music and scent that lay bare sinister and pure motives. As Juliet searches for the four men — the injured, the tattooed, the poacher and the ‘Musk’ — she must come face to face with the price of her purpose and confront the persistent presence of the past. As she inches closer to discovery, will she endure or will she break… irreversibly?

The idea for Le Musk was born out of director Rahman’s conversation with his wife Saira Rahman. The partners share a love for perfume and wished to employ scent as a narrative device in immersive cinema. They tapped into the infinite possibilities posed by immersive VR soon after their exchange. Gradually, the world and characters of Le Musk took shape in the artist’s mind.

Shot in Rome, Le Musk is a technical masterpiece with inter-disciplinary expertise coming together from around the world. Shot on 14 different cameras capture super-resolution quality video. Post-produced in stereoscopic 360 VR workflow at higher resolution and frame rate, Le Musk’s was finished by 10 VFX houses from around the world with close to a Petabyte of data. ARR Studios produced the film in collaboration with Ideal Entertainment and Intel as coproducers, as well as Thenandal Studio and Palani Andavar Holdings as associate producers. Gurachi Phoenix wrote the screenplay and Rahman composed the music for Le Musk.

Le Musk@Hollywood

Location: Le Musk Theater, 6565 Sunset Blvd, Los Angles
Nov 2-5 – Special Press, Media and VIP screening

Location: Goya Studios (Infinity Festival)
Nov 3 – Making of Le Musk Session with ARR and Ravi moderated by Lori Schwartz

Location: Le Musk Theater 6565 Sunset
Nov 5 Evening : US premiere of Le Musk ( by invite only)

Nov 6: Ticked, Open for general public