Lost NYC Photo Adventure Finds Happy Ending in Paris
Todd Bieber (no relation) set out two months ago to find the rightful owners of a film roll he found in Brooklyn's Prospect Park after a huge blizzard. He had the photos developed and, conveniently because he's a filmmaker, went to YouTube to start a twee-as-fuck search for the people who dropped them. The original video accumulated over 1,000,000 views, so Bieber (heh) made a second one. The third installment comes today and ends whimsically in Paris, just like Amélie.
Bieber finally gets a message from the people who took the pictures, which they prove with other shots from the same day, and they happen to live in France, so the filmmaker and his girlfriend go on an adventure to deliver the pictures. And make the above mini-movie! The trip takes them to five countries, thanks to the kindness of some of the 800 strangers that emailed offering to help with the search for the mystery photographer. Eventually, he hands off the photos, while struggling to get to know the woman who he says inadvertently changed his life.
The entire clip is worth watching and is so darn cute that it's still hard to imagine the whole thing isn't an elaborate hoax, or plot to get Bieber a feature film project. But it's all too goodhearted, with serendipity oozing from every second. The whole thing is like a This American Life segment, with more pretty Europeans.
There's even sort of a twist ending. Believe it or not, it's super sweet.
[via Gawker.TV]
[jcoscarelli@villagevoice.com / @joecoscarelli]
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