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Fuses written, audio and film formats to present original non-fiction stories
Alexander is the digital home of original non-fiction stories from around the world. Bringing together some of the world’s most respected creative talent, Alexander’s feature stories are commissioned from acclaimed global authors and journalists and give unique access to fascinating places, cultures and people.
Alexander is launching with a collection of the hottest and most respected writing and acting talent of the moment including: Academy-Award nominees Helena Bonham Carter and Richard E. Grant, BAFTA and Golden Globe winner Bill Nighy, BAFTA winners Vanessa Kirby and David Tennant and National Book Award winner Colum McCann. One of the initial short films stars Emma Corrin – who is currently leading the cast of Netflix’s The Crown.
“Alexander wants to find the edge, define it, then push it even further. Here you get a chance to dwell in the true deep heart of a story. It’s not just a fierce new island for readers, writers, actors and filmmakers, but a galapagos for ideas too.”
Colum McCann, National Book Award winner
“It’s thrilling to plunge into someone else’s world and be taken somewhere unexpected.”
Helena Bonham Carter
Using the Alexander mobile app, every original feature is presented in multiple storytelling dimensions—a commissioned written story, an audio performance and a super short film.
The crafted film introduces the setting, teases the subject and sets the mood. Audiences then transition into the full story and can read, listen or move seamlessly via The Toggle, a proprietary text-to-audio functionality, between the written word and the audio performance. The convergence creates an immersive storytelling experience that meets the high expectations of discerning audiences everywhere.
Conceived and created by veteran film producer Cameron Lamb, Alexander harnesses the talents of an all-star cast of award-winning authors, A-list actors and celebrated filmmakers.
Commissioned writers include National Book Award winner Colum McCann, National Book Critics Circle Award winner Xiaolu Guo, Two-timeBooker Prize-nominated Chigozie Obioma, theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Valeria Luiselli.
Audio performances include Academy Award nominees Helena Bonham Carter and Richard E. Grant, BAFTA and Golden Globe winner Bill Nighy, BAFTA winners Vanesa Kirby and David Tennant and SAG nominated Dan Stevens along with Daisy Edgar-Jones, Ṣope Dìrísù and Nathalie Emmanuel among others.
Super short films come from directors including Charlotte Wales and Derek Zheng, and star the likes of Emma Corrin (debuting as Princess Diana in Netflix’s The Crown, November 2020).
“Alexander is for a global audience starved of those intimate, transporting stories that give real access to international and unexplored subjects and places,” said Alexander founder Cameron Lamb.
“I wanted to create something different. To bring together three familiar mediums, entwined, working cohesively together, to deliver an immersive world. Alexander commissions brilliant writers who can find a remarkable story in a place or topic and make it feel immediate and familiar. The incredible group of actors and filmmakers we’ve brought together elevate each of these story experiences, capturing audiences from the moment they drop into the app. It’s a unique experience.”
“Dugong”
By J.M. Ledgard with audio performance by David Tennant and film by Russ Murphy. Traveling from the remote islands of the Torres Strait to the waters of the Arabian Gulf in search of the elusive dugong, Ledgard looks to both past and future in the race to preserve a species in the Anthropocene Age.
“Killing in the Year of the Pig”
By Xiaolu Guo with audio performance by Guo and film by Derek Zheng. Guo revisits the China of her childhood to unfold the story of two mass-murdering brothers and their months-long killing spree that transfixed a nation.
“When the Risen Dust Settles”
By Chigozie Obioma with audio performance by Ṣope Dìrísù and film by Zacker Canaperi and Drea Cooper. Nigeria’s Caritas University is ruled by the arbitrary discipline of a charismatic Catholic priest. Students are kept in dormitories without sanitation, barred from outside contact, beaten for misbehavior, and summarily expelled. When Obioma’s curiosity makes him question the institution and its founder, he becomes the main target for the culture of control.
“Seasick”
By Jonathan Freedland with audio performance by Richard E. Grant and film by the McGloughlin Brothers. What happens when culture loses its memory and truth can’t be trusted? Jonathan Freedland, one of the world’s top political reporters, meets the people around the globe who are fighting against tech-age misinformation, Holocaust denial and the War on Facts.
In addition to new original features, Alexander also includes a curated library of historical non-fiction stories that have stood the test of time, freshly packaged in the Alexander experience.
The Alexander app is available by subscription on iOS. Monthly subscription rates begin at $3.99/£3.99 following a 14-day complimentary trial. The app will be available for Android in early 2021.
