A woman enters the room of a man who kills. She has no weapon. She has stories.
These are the opening words of Aladin, the tale that saved Scheherazade, the new production from the A.G.I.R. studio. A 25-minute immersive virtual reality experience, due out in late 2026, which we are opening up today to anyone who would like to experience it with us.
Back to the source
The Thousand and One Nights have been plundered, watered down, reduced to a few clichéd images. For many, Aladin is just a cartoon. Galland’s tale, meanwhile, dates back to 1704.
Our project does not tell the story of Aladin. It tells the story of what Scheherazade made of it. Every night, this woman chooses a specific story to heal a king broken by betrayal. She is not seeking to distract him: she is seeking to heal him. The audience does not merely watch the tales; they journey through them, guided by the voice of the woman who was the first to realise that storytelling could save lives.
Why this project resonates with us
At A.G.I.R, we believe that we remember best what we feel. The Thousand and One Nights is perhaps humanity’s oldest therapeutic corpus: long before psychoanalysis, Scheherazade had realised that stories reach what direct words never can.
Bruno Bettelheim demonstrated this in *The Uses of Enchantment*: the tale never names the wound; it shifts it, cloaks it, makes it bearable. This is precisely the mechanism that this experience brings to life. Understanding, yes. But above all, feeling.
A serious theme, a story for all ages
The subject matter is profound, yet nothing is shown head-on. The scenes unfold without dialogue, carried by Scheherazade’s voice, an original score and meticulous sound design: the narrative is conveyed through symbolism, as in all fairy tales. No violence is explicit. Everyone takes from it what they are ready to understand.
- Children see the fairy-tale elements: the cave, the lamp, the sea voyage.
- Teenagers feel the emotion: courage, fear, reconciliation.
- Adults perceive the care: the healing process, the symbolic significance.
The experience is designed for families with children aged 8 and over, with free roaming, either standing or seated, and is accessible to people with reduced mobility.
A distinctive artistic vision
The aesthetic draws inspiration from the work of Michel Ocelot: bold blocks of colour, crisp outlines, and settings that suggest rather than depict in detail. Persian miniaturism and Arabic calligraphy do not seek realism; they seek the essential. The cel-shaded rendering, light and easy to follow, is also best suited to standalone headsets: a technical constraint transformed into a visual signature.
Would you like to host Aladin?
We are now opening discussions with cultural venues, museums, VR centres and local authorities wishing to programme the experience upon its release.
And for those who want to take it a step further, our Studio Partner programme allows you to fund our creations, vote annually on a selection of themes proposed by the studio, and gain access to creative briefs and previews. Your contribution is fully credited towards your access to the catalogue, and you’ll receive additional benefits. Your name will be credited for life on the works you’ve co-funded.
Interested? Write to us, and we’ll explain the project in detail, including the timetable.