Perpetelle
An atelier for storytelling.
We make documentary films about the people you love, for the people you love, so that the generations after you can know where they come from and what they are part of.
What we believe
The most important film anyone will ever make is the one about the people they love, for the people they love.
This work is more than a record kept for its own sake. It makes a lineage visible, and it connects the people living now to a story they belong to but may not yet fully understand. What matters most is what gets carried forward: what your children and grandchildren receive because this film was made.
What we make
Every film is a private commission, made for the people who matter most to you.
- The film
- A documentary that typically runs between forty-five minutes and two hours. For some stories, we make a short film of under twenty minutes.
- A private place to watch it
- Your film lives in an online space built for private viewing, and it is shared only with the people you choose.
- The premiere
- We work with you on a private screening for your closest friends and family, so that the story is celebrated among the people who are in it.
- The archive
- During production, we gather the photographs, documents, and recordings your family already holds, digitize them, and return them to you as a preserved archive when the film is complete.
We should say plainly that this work can be confronting. Looking honestly at your own life is not something ordinary days ask of us, and most people have never had these conversations out loud. Many of the people we film did not know they needed this, and some were not sure they wanted it. When the film exists, it becomes one of the best decisions they have made.
Founder
Founder-led, and made by a studio of artists.
Perpetelle was founded by Shaina Koren, a filmmaker whose debut documentary premiered on Netflix, screened at more than 20 festivals, and won 8 awards. She directs every Perpetelle film, and for each story she brings together the most experienced team available.
Her particular gift is seeing the shape of a story while it is still being told, often in the first minutes of someone beginning to speak. That vision, paired with the experience to carry it through at the highest level of craft, is what the studio is built on.
The name
Perpetelle
PER · PUH · TELL
Latin
Everlasting. Perpetua was also one of the earliest women to write her own story.
French
The everlasting flower, which keeps its color and scent long after it is cut.
Perpetelle is a word we made. To us, it means a voice preserved that never fades.
Privacy
Every film we make is a private commission. We never share a family's name, footage, or story without their written permission.
Write to us
Tell us whose story you have been thinking about.
Write as much or as little as you like. Someone from the studio will write back to you.
You are also welcome to write to us directly at hello@perpetelle.com.