Kyma, Power of Waves
2017 | Canada | Directed by Philippe Baylaucq | Produced by NFB, Montreal Space for
Life’s Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium | With music and without words
26 min
Licensing
People are sometimes afraid of the term “experimental,” but I think it’s the best way to describe the mandate I give myself as a director: to take the viewer where they’ve never been and to use the medium to open up new worlds.
— Philippe Baylaucq, designer and director
Launched at Montreal Space for Life’s Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in May 2017, laureate of a JANUS Award and a Macon Best Immersive Experience Award in 2018 and seen by more than 100,000 viewers, Kyma transports audiences into a 360-degree allegorical tale of how our universe—and everyone in it—is composed of waves. Exploring everything from music to light, from the smallest particle to vast galaxies, Kyma is a voyage through the wavelength of life, a stunning and immersive show that combines the skills of artists, musicians and acrobats.
CREDITS
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Writer
Philippe Baylaucq
Director
Philippe Baylaucq
Producer
René Chénier
Circus Artist
Andréanne Nadeau
Justin Dale
Original Music
Robert Marcel Lepage
Director of 360º photography
Bruno Colpron
Technical director
Bruno Colpron
Editor
Sindre Ulvik Péladeau
Chief 360º - computer graphics designer
Sindre Ulvik Péladeau
360º fulldome motion design
Sébastien Gravel
Sindre Ulvik Péladeau
Sound design
Benoît Dame
1st assistant director
Isabelle Pruneau Brunet
Production coordinator
Isabelle Pruneau Brunet
Gabrielle Dupont
Marcia Seebaran
Production assistant
Jonathan Pître
David Paré
Research
Philippe Baylaucq
Bruno Colpron
Isabelle Pruneau Brunet
Sindre Ulvik Péladeau
Scriptwriting consultant
Jessica Arseneault-Bréard
Mireille Bentz
Iolande Cadrin-Rossignol
Gilles Couture
Richard D. Lavoie
Benoît Dame
Martine Époque
Sébastien Gauthier
Marc Jobin
Robert Marcel Lepage
Sarah Ouellet
Isabelle Pruneau Brunet
Denis Poulin
Shooting musician
Céline Arcand
Jennifer Bourdages
Elizabeth Dubé
James Goddard
Julie Houle
Jean-Sébastien Leblanc
Catherine Lefebvre
Nicolas Letarte
René Lussier
Olivier Maranda
Jean René
Elena Maria Stoodley
Director of photography
Philippe Lavalette
Lighting design
Philippe Baylaucq
Philippe Lavalette
Musicians coordinator
Sylvie Rémillard
Executive director, Space for Life
Charles-Mathieu Brunelle
Communications and marketing
Albane Le Nay
Technical partner
Jean Mayrand
Patrick Tessier
Francis Labonté
Simon Descarries
Georges Aubin
Félix Morin
Sébastien Pedraglio
Sébastien Dallaire
Noé Sardet
Technical assistance
Louis Colpron
Music composer
Robert Marcel Lepage
Lighting director
Kevin Laflamme
Lighting technician
Pascal Fortin
Francis Guitard
Christian Leclerc
Étienne Hébert-Vincent
Head rigger
Raphaël Brien
Rigger
Stéphane Barbeau
Marc Bouchard
Manuel Hernandez
Marc Joseph
Clément Martin
Andrei Pascariu
Dubbing technician
Olivier Rhéaume
Bubble magician
Bubble Dynx
Unit still photography
Marcia Seebaran
First aid
Gabriel Dubuc
Geneviève Pruneau-Brunet
Circus arts - advisor
Marie-Josée Gauthier
Loïc Quesnel
Chloé Farah
Puller
Jérémie Robert
Aerial hoop rigger
Marc Gauthier
Filming
Simon Gingras
André Rouleau
Frédérique Foiret
Assistant
Anne-Sophie Girard
Anabel Girard
Marie-Claude Girard
Daniel Hénault
Stéphanie Imbeault
Associate technical director
Olivier Rhéaume
Operations manager
Stéphane Morin
Filming coordinator
Stéphane Morin
Animal welfare coordinator
Jean-Philippe Gagnon
Laboratory technician
Paul Harrison
Botanist
Lorraine Bluteau
Patrick Hamel
Scientific recreation coordinator
Étienne Laurence
Technician
Patrick Cournoyer
Mathieu Forcier
Simon Gauthier
Patrick Geoffroy
Astronomer
Marc Jobin
Astronomer, programming agent and producer
Sébastien Gauthier
Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium director
Pierre Lacombe
Music recording
Robert Langlois
Music mixing
Robert Langlois
Music - arrangement
Nicolas Borycki
Music editing
Nicolas Borycki
Orchestration
Nicolas Borycki
Musician
Céline Arcand
David Carbonneau
Elizabeth Dubé
Sheila Hannigan
Julie Houle
Jean-Sébastien Leblanc
Catherine Lefebvre
Olivier Maranda
Josée Poirier
Jean René
Robert Marcel Lepage
Singer
Jean-Sébastien Allaire
Rebecca Bain
Marie-Annick Béliveau
Kerry Bursey
Jonathan Davis
David Cronkite
Cynthia Gates
Josée Lalonde
Marie Magistry
Normand Richard
Yves St-Amant
Arthur Tanguay-Labrosse
David Trower
Dorothéa Ventura
Josée Lalonde
François Ouimet
loaned instruments
Véronique Marquis
Sound editing
Benoît Dame
Sound mix
Benoît Dame
Sound editing assistant
Jérémie Jones
Sound recording
Benoît Dame
Jérémie Jones
Olivier Rhéaume
Catherine Van Der Donckt
Foley
Benoît Dame
Jérémie Jones
Catherine Van Der Donckt
Sound design consultant
Catherine Van Der Donckt
Foley recording
Geoffrey Mitchell
Sound spatialization consultant
Olivier Rhéaume
Editing
Sindre Ulvik Péladeau
Computer graphics
Sébastien Gravel
Audio-reactive visualization
Sébastien Gravel
Motion graphics
Sarah Ouellet
3D astronomy simulations
Mathieu Forcier
Marc Jobin
Assembly of multicamera images
Bruno Colpron
Colour calibration
Serge Verreault
Colourization
Rémi Boucher
Bruno Colpron
Credit sequence design
Sean Caruso
Project administrator
Isabelle Limoges
Technical coordinator
Daniel Lord
Technical coordinator - Shooting equipment
Steve Hallé
Support, research and technical development
Jacques Bertrand Simard
Éloi Champagne
Pierre Ferlatte
Jimmy Fournier
Benoit Forté
André Gagnon
Yannick Grandmont
Julie Laperrière
Mélanie Lasnier
Frank Nadeau
Pierre Plouffe
Stéphane Simard
Development officer - accomodations
Martine Allard-Charland
Patrice Filion
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
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- JANUS DIRECTORS AWARD | Fulldome Festival 2018
- BEST IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE AWARD | Film Festival
- PRIX RÉALS – No dramatic story | Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec
TECHNICAL SHEET
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Philippe Baylauq
Director
Philippe Baylaucq is a Quebec-based filmmaker and spatial designer renowned for his innovative works that merge art, science, and technology. A graduate in fine arts from St Martin’s School of Art in London, he has explored a wide range of mediums, from documentary to immersive installations, as well as experimental and interactive films. His work has received numerous accolades, including the Lumières Award in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of his profession. With Kyma, Philippe Baylaucq reaffirms his role as a pioneer in immersive cinematic experiences, blending scientific precision with artistic sensitivity.
René Chénier
Producer
René Chénier has credits on more than 150 productions, ranging from short films to feature-length works, including dramas, animations, and multimedia projects. His filmography includes The Necessities of Life (Ce qu’il faut pour vivre, 2008) by Benoît Pilon, which won Best Film at the Jutra Awards and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Hugo and the Dragon (Hugo et le dragon, 2001), directed by Philippe Baylaucq, which won Best Canadian Film at the Banff Film Festival.
As Executive Producer of the National Film Board of Canada’s Animation Studio and Institutional Program (2006–2021), he produced innovative works notable for their format, content, and technology. Among these are Impressions (2010), directed by Jean-François Pouliot, presented on a semi-circular screen at the Canada Pavilion during the Shanghai World Expo; Expo 67 Live (2017) by Karine Lanoie-Brien, which combined large-scale restored archival footage to mark the 50th anniversary of Montreal’s Expo 67; as well as KYMA – Power of Waves (2017) and Arctic Worlds (Mondes de glace, 2022), two immersive dome-format films directed by Philippe Baylaucq and designed for 360-degree projection.
