The Queen of Versailles
© Lauren GreenfieldThe Queen of Versailles tells the story of a billionaire family and their financial challenges in the wake of the economic crisis. The photo essay and interviews paint a portrait of two larger than life characters whose rags-to-riches success stories reveal the innate virtues and flaws of the American dream. The story begins with the family triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America, a 90,000 square foot home inspired by the Palace of Versailles in Ile-de-France and the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Over the next two years, their sprawling empire, fueled by cheap money, falters due to the economic crisis. Major changes in lifestyle and character ensue within the cross-cultural household of family members and domestic staff.
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InstituteTM (collectively Institute Pictures, Institute Studios, & Institute Artist) is redefining how stories are produced and told in the 21st Century. Founded by Producer Frank Evers and Director/Visual Artist Lauren Greenfield, we are a multiplatform production company representing auteur-driven storytellers across commercials, photography, fine art, film, and technology — and producing original work across every screen that those stories live on. Our multiplatform expertise and established global relationships in entertainment, commercial, fine art, and journalism create unmatched reach and cross-pollination of creative work. A film commission informs a photography campaign; a fine art practice shapes a commercial; an editorial relationship opens a documentary. Few companies operate fluently across all of these worlds. Institute was built this way from the ground up.
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