Lovely animated video for Roseau’s melancholic track “Disintegrate” by London-based director Hannah Jacobs.

A portrait of death-match world champion, Matt Tremont, by New York City-based director Matthew Dillon Cohen.

1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Frances McDormand looks phenomenal in this dark comedy, written and directed by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). Check out the trailer above and the rest of our Best Picks of the week below!

2. The Student

A high school student becomes convinced the world is lost to evil in this drama by Russian film and stage director Kirill Serebrennikov.

3. The Handmaid’s Tale

The full-length trailer for Hulu’s adaption of Margaret Atwood’s classic novel gives away a lot more of the story than the teaser and it’s no less unsettling.

4. Burden

A documentary about American artist Chris Burden, whose body of work ranged from extreme performance pieces — like crucifying himself to the back of a car — to the iconic antique streetlight installation that stands at the entrance of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

5. Death Note

Fun teaser for Netflix’s adaptation of writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obatareat’s hugely popular manga. Directed by Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) and featuring the voice of Willem Dafoe as the spirit Ryuk.

Pow! Wow! returned home to Hawaii, bringing together a slew of international artists and musicians to collaborate with local creatives. This year’s festivities included live art installations, exhibitions, panel discussions and concerts — including a performance by Steve Aoki to close the event! Check out the recap above, directed by Andrew Tran, Jonas Maon and Cory Martin.

Writer/director Minhal Baig is turning heads all over the net, and Hollywood has noticed too. Her screenplay, Hala, which explores the life of a young Muslim American teenager, was included on the 2016 Black List—the annual survey of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays. Baig’s 14-minute proof of concept version of Hala was also awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick and featured by Short of the Week.

We had a chance to ask the young Yale-graduate some questions about her work, on the heels of releasing her short film, After Sophie.

After Sophie – film by Minhal Baig

Jeff Hamada: Can you paint a picture of where you are right now? What do you see, hear and smell?

Minhal Baig: I smell coffee. There’s a lot of people having meetings all around me. I hear conversations about financing independent films, the GOP and the weather in Whistler. I’m at a cafe in Studio City called Aeirloom. I work here sometimes in the mornings.

JH: You’ve moved back and forth between LA and Chicago way too many times. How has life as a transient affected you creatively?

MB: I have moved back and forth quite a lot. There are some big advantages. Every time I move, I carry less and less stuff. I don’t feel tied down to anywhere because I don’t have a lot of physical possessions. I prefer it that way. There is something about being able to pack up your entire life in a carry-on or a suitcase that’s really liberating. At the same time, I do miss having a place that feels like home. It’s a bummer not having a dedicated workspace. I want an office more than anything.

JH: Take me through the process of whittling down your belongings; what things have you decided are the most important to you?

MB: I’ve had to cut down on my possessions several times in the last five years since graduating college. My laptop, notebooks, my phone, and a week’s worth of clothes are my essentials. I’ve even stopped carting around makeup. I barely wear it. I really don’t have a sentimental attachment to things I’ve had for a very long time. I had all these notebooks from when I was working on my first feature and I recycled all of them. It’s better for the planet and my brain. I’m constantly shedding the emotional baggage of these projects (and there’s a lot of it.) I make something and I move on.

A slate from After Sophie. “I always take pictures of my slates now, as a way of remembering, because being in production is such a rarity, it has to be cherished.” – Minhal Baig

JH: Will LA ever feel like home for you?

MB: No — and there are a lot of reasons why. The rent here is very expensive for artists, and it’s really unfair that so many of us have to be here so often for work purposes. Because we can write from the comfort of our own homes, I would hope that filmmakers have greater freedom to live wherever they want, kind of like novelists do. Our work is collaborative so it’s a little harder but, at least for me, it makes the most sense to build my life the way I want it and have my work support that life. Television is a little different because you do have to work with other writers and most of them live here. I really believe in leading a low-rent life for maximum creative fulfillment and flexibility. I’m not interested in acquiring wealth or material success; if I can provide for my family, that would be enough.

Even though I gave up my apartment in Venice last fall, I’m still here a lot. My creative collaborators all live here and they make the city feel more like home than anywhere else. Lived experiences here do feel homogenous … there is a danger in being here too much and not having new life experiences that inform my work. I’m not just making stuff to make stuff. I won’t make something if I don’t have something to say. I’m still young and want to live life as fully as possible so that the work feels that way, too.

“Karma” – music video by Minhal Baig

JH: Are you from a family of storytellers? Were you born into this?

MB: Nobody in my family is a storyteller. My parents and extended family are Pakistani immigrants. They’re very practical people and chose careers that would allow them to provide for their families. I’m the black sheep in my family. It’s still a challenge for them to accept and understand what I’m doing with my life.

JH: Is it more important to you that your family understand what you do or accepts it?

MB: It’s more important that my family understand what I am trying to do than accept it. Acceptance is a much bigger leap. It’s enough that they empathize. They don’t necessarily have to agree with my point of view.

JH: Having watched both Hala and After Sophie, as well as your brilliant video for Brandyn Burnette, it seems like you’re finding a distinct voice — do you feel that way?

MB: It’s interesting that you say that, because people who have watched all of my work have said the same. I don’t set out to deliberately make my projects connected in any way, but they probably do feel like they were made by the same person. The more I work, the more confident I feel about the direction of the stories, the characters I’m drawn to and why. I have so many amazing influences but I’ve come to accept that I can’t be them, I can only be me, so might as well embrace that now.

Camera and film stock from the Brandyn Burnette music video shoot. “Kodak donated two rolls of film to our production – it’s a joy to shoot on film, and I hope to do it again soon.” – Minhal Baig

JH: When you started to really get into watching films who were your favourite directors?

MB: I didn’t get to watch a lot of American films growing up until I was a little older, but the first film that really influenced me was Jurassic Park. That always surprises people. I loved Spielberg’s films growing up because they were just so accessible.

JH: I’m surprised how well Jurassic Park still holds up. Who’s influencing you these days?

MB: My favorite directors right now are a very, very different bunch – Andrea Arnold, Asghar Farhadi, Sofia Coppola, Xavier Dolan, Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Glazer, Wong Kar-Wai, Steve McQueen, Hayao Miyazaki and Paul Thomas Anderson. There are also so many emerging directors whose work I love. Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight was my favorite film last year. Other directors who are amazing: Julia Ducournau, Babak Anvari, Chloe Robichaud.

JH: I read your one of your posts on Medium and was hoping you could talk a little bit about the idea of ‘genius’ and its crippling effect?

MB: I’m not sure that ‘genius’ is a real thing. I think it’s something that society has fabricated so that natural talent can be elevated over hard work. It’s a lot easier to say “I can’t do x or y because I just don’t have the talent for it,” as opposed to “I can’t do x or y because I don’t want to do the work required to get me there.” Genius is what we ascribe to people who have enormous talent in whatever they do, but we forget that it took work to get to be where they are. The idea of ‘genius’ diminishes the work that artists do to in-born talent. In Los Angeles, everyone is a ‘genius’ — the word is so overused in our business that it honestly doesn’t mean anything anymore. For artists just starting their career, seeing your heroes as ‘geniuses’ is crippling. Everyone started somewhere, after all.

Hala – a proof of concept for a feature film by Minhal Baig (MATURE CONTENT)

JH: What’s the most recent thing you learned how to do or experienced for the first time?

MB: Directing a sex scene in Hala was a big learning experience for me. I grew up believing that my sexuality was shameful, so I’ve always been fairly conservative in that way. You might be wondering, why did I write a sex scene if I was scared to direct it? That’s exactly why I wrote it. If I’m not vulnerable in my art, I really can’t expect anyone to get anything out of it. Truth in storytelling has to come from somewhere real.

JH: Based on your tweets it sounds like something big is coming, can you talk at all about it?

MB: There are super big things on the horizon! I’m directing a sci-fi short film either late this year or early next. It’s a proof of concept for a feature that I’m really excited to make. Fingers crossed, I’m shooting Hala this year. On the writing front, I’m getting into genre, which has been very, very rewarding. Projects take literally years to put together but I’m in a good place right now. I have faith everything will come together in the way that it’s meant to.

“We shot a dance scene on Hala that never made it to the final cut, but it was fun to shoot. One of the production assistants took this shot as we were filming.” – Minhal Baig

JH: I’m super excited to see Hala get made! Thanks for taking the time for this, maybe we can end this with a quote that is meaningful to you.

MB: This quote by Stanley Kubrick is brought up a lot but I love it and have found it increasingly relevant in our day and age:

“The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

Minhal Baig on Twitter

Minhal Baig on Vimeo

Minhal Baig’s Website

A fun little in-house project by Animade animator/designer Milo Targett. Influenced by Targett’s fear of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Beautiful visuals for the track “Hymn” by VeilHymn, a new collaboration between Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange) and Bryndon Cook (of Starchild & The New Romantic). Directed by Malia James, the video was shot in Kingston, Jamaica and inspired by the late photographer Malick Sidibé.

Everything Gentle Monster does is on another level! Their store in Korea is like going to an art gallery on another planet.

Strange little animation by Los Angeles-based animator Kirsten Lepore. Part of The Late Night Work Club’s series of original shorts based around the theme of strangers. Click here to check out the full compilation of members’ contributions from the past two years, if you haven’t already!

Artist Andy Knowlton creates a large wooden puzzle and gives out the pieces to a bunch of strangers in the hopes they’ll all meet up to complete the picture. Click here to check out Knowlton’s previous project, transforming broken and discarded umbrellas into works of art!

Video for James Blake’s track “My Willing Heart.” Starring Natalie Portman and directed by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Anna Rose Holmer.

Canadian artist and animator Nicolas Ménard’s Wednesday With Goddard is a brilliant short about a man’s search for God, featuring a combination of Ménard’s signature simplified-style with finely-detailed pencil drawings by artist Manshen Lo.

We caught up with Ménard to talk a bit about the film and his life in London. Watch Wednesday With Goddard above and check out some photos, along with our full interview, below!

Jeff Hamada: How’s London treating you? Do you miss living in Montréal at all?

Nicolas Ménard: Not too bad! I like the scene here, and it’s good for work. A few months ago, we moved into a small flat by Victoria Park. Living near the trees and dogs makes life more cheerful. If the rent was half the price, it would be my favourite city.

But yes, I do miss Montréal, especially my family and friends. It feels simpler in Montréal to organize things with people since distances aren’t so big. You can walk to a friend’s house, knock on their door without notice, and bring them to eat a bagel on a Saturday morning.

Jeff Hamada: What would be a perfect day out there, where do you go and what do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Nicolas Ménard: There’s certainly a million ways to go about this.

I like to have breakfast at home. I enjoy a long walk in the park on a sunny and fresh morning, these are the best in London. My favourite lunch in the area is at the Pavilion, at the heart of Victoria park. I always get the Sri Lankan plate, with dahl and coconut sambal. An afternoon at the Natural History Museum is always enjoyable, especially when stumbling on Peter Millard. In the evening, my wife will bring me to Chinatown to try out some hidden gems.

Jeff Hamada: I love Sri Lankan food! I actually travelled there several years ago, such a beautiful place! Let’s talk about your latest film, how autobiographical is Wednesday with Goddard?

Nicolas Ménard: Not so much. In fact, a lot of the film was written to follow a certain rhythm and structure I was playing with. The one autobiographical thing in the film is how Eugene is constantly putting his hand on his chin, pondering.

Jeff Hamada: When’s the last time you wondered about something and never found the answer? Are there any on-going mysteries in your life?

Nicolas Ménard: There are too many on-going mysteries in my life to list them here. But in general, all those mysteries lead to me being baffled by the circumstances and random events that lead me to live this day.

Jeff Hamada: I don’t recall many voice actors in your other animations, what was it like working with them on this?

Nicolas Ménard: Yes, this was my first time working with voice actors. It was hard to figure out. I tried voices of people in the studio, computer voices, voices of famous actors. Nothing worked! There was a point where I was going to have the film without voice, only subtitles. I thought the animation felt more like a book than a film. David Kamp also did a lot of tests for Evelyn speaking in a white noise gibberish. It felt dishonest to go down that road.

In the end, I understood that what I really had to do was to face my fear of working with actors. When we finally found Denis Foley and Aneta Piotrowska, everything fell into place. They were fantastic to work with. I could only afford to book them for two hours in a recording studio. So there was very little room for mistakes!

Jeff Hamada: Tell me about Manshen Lo! I loved the MTV spot you did together.

Nicolas Ménard: Manshen and I have been wanting to collaborate since she graduated from the RCA, in 2015. Our skill sets and backgrounds are very different, and complimentary in many ways. Working on a short film together felt like a great opportunity to try something stylistically different from my previous films. So we started playing this game of ping pong, trying to mix some of her pencil drawings with my simple, graphic characters.

I’m glad you noticed the MTV spot we did. It’s very much the antithesis of Wednesday with Goddard. Since the shots were very static in the short film, we wanted to try playing with a camera that’s constantly in motion. But something we agreed on keeping was an analogue touch, which Manshen is really good at. Therefore, she figured out the workflow to paint every frame of the animation with gouache on paper, while I was designing and animating in Photoshop.

She’s currently working a new body of work, so you should keep an eye on her website.

Jeff Hamada: Who are some other artists you’re loving these days?

Nicolas Ménard: I enjoyed the simplicity of Michael Dudok de Wit’s ‘The Red Turtle’. He found a lovely way to keep the soul of his short films in the feature film format. I just wish that turtle wasn’t CGI. I’ve also been into Karel Martens’ latest book; it always lies somewhere on my desk. It’s my kind of printed, formal stuff. Oh and I’ve seen Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s latest short, ‘The Burden’. If you can catch it in a festival, it’s absolutely brilliant.

Jeff Hamada: What’s next for you, what should we look out for?

Nicolas Ménard: You can keep your eyes peeled for some new commercial work in the next year. I have a few personal projects under the hood, it’s just a question of time before they concretize.

In the near future, I’ll be giving an animation/design workshop at the École de Design of UQAM, in Montreal, in May. And you might also find Manshen and I at the Annecy animation festival, in June.

Nicolas Ménard’s Website

Nicolas Ménard on Vimeo

Nicolas Ménard on Instagram

Nicolas Ménard on Twitter