A timely animation directed by Majid Adin and Team Tumult, “Dear Habib” raises awareness for the issues and obstacles faced by refugees even after they’ve set down roots. Produced by London-based Feed Me Light, in collaboration with: Becoming Adult, Positive Negative, University of Oxford Refugee Centre, University of Birmingham, Iris, CEID UCL and ESRC. See full credits below.

Directed by Majid Adin & Team Tumult
Written and Produced by Ryan Goodwin-Smith
With the voice talent of Elham Ehsas

Art Direction: Frederic Siegel
Storybard and Animatic: Beni Morard
2D animation: Julien Becquer, Nina Christen, Justine Klaiber, Conor Ryan
Additional Storyboard : Johann Auroux
Additional Colour : Christa Jarrold
Additional Compositing : Mathieu Dellabe
Music Composition: David Kamp
Sound Design: Fonic
Creative Producers: Habib Rezaie, Gullican Zada

Becoming Adults Researchers: Dr Elaine Chase, Jennifer Allsopp, Dr Nando Sigona
PositiveNegatives Team: Rachel Shapcott, Emily Oliver

This video was submitted by Feed Me Light and selected by our team. Click here if you have a project you’d like us to check out!

Fun video for George Ezra’s track “Shotgun” directed by Nelson y Carlos aka Nelson de Castro and Carlos Lopez Estrada (previously featured here).

A woman’s paranoia over her boyfriend’s fidelity leads to unexpected personal reflections in this short psychological thriller by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Matthew Charof. Based on the story “Pale” by Matthew Gasda, who Charof approached to work together on a screenplay, “Violet” offers a visual representation of some of the fragments from their collaboration. As Charof further explains:

“I wanted to tell a story about this idea of searching for one’s self. I worked to bring that into a visual form and surround it with the conflicts of fighting with your boyfriend, paranoia and low self esteem and literally chasing the thing you suspect is causing all the pain, but finding your own face staring back at you.”

This is one of the many compelling submissions we’ve received in the past week. Consider participating here if you have a project you’d like us to check out!

A gorgeously shot short by Italy-born, Australia-based filmmaker and photographer Patrick Fileti. Presented by Filmsupply and released in conjunction with The Refugee Council’s World Refugee Day, “Undercurrent” tells the story of a young Syrian girl who struggles to find hope in a sea of tragedy and is based on dozens of true accounts gleaned from refugees Fileti interviewed for the film.

Some nice moments playing with light and shadow in this video for Saro’s track “Boy Afraid” by director Merlin Camozzi (previously featured here).

A spectacular video for The Legendary Tigerman by directors James F. Coton and Masato Riesser. Equal parts documentary and music video, “Motorcycle Boy” offers a raw glimpse into the slowly vanishing culture of Bōsōzoku — the motorcycle gangs that once ruled the roads of Japan back in the 90’s.

A film by James F. Coton & Masato Riesser
Produced by NOSIDE 
In association with PEERMUSIC FRANCE / ALTER K / SONY MUSIC FRANCE & METROPOLITANA

Cinematographer — Alexandre Jamin
Editor — Zoé Sassier
Color Grading — Robin Risser
featuring Takayuki Kaneoya — Kokoro Tanaka — Kohei Osawa

Executive producers — Morgan Prêleur & Rémi Sello
Line producer — Aurore Taddei
Assistant producer — Cécile Augé
Japan production service — TOKYO ACT 2
Japan exec. producer — Kenji Leprêtre Sato 
Japan production assistant — David Dicembre

Sound operator — Edan Mason
Gaffer — Ryuto Iwabuchi
1st assistant camera — Kateb
Flame artist — Francois Londard

Post-production — EVEREST STUDIO
Senior post-producer — Sylvain Obriot
Post production coordinator — Lučka Leskovec
Additional sound mixer — Damien Tronchot
Sound design supervision BMM NETWORK
Japanese translator — Yumiko Seki

Special Thanks
THE SPECTER GANG, Gery Bouchez at NOD PARIS, John at KINOU PARIS, Paulo Ventura.
With the support of the CNC and SACEM

This is just one of the many exciting submissions we’ve received in the past week. Click here if you have a project you’d like us to check out!

A beautiful short directed by Toronto/NYC-based filmmaker Adam Beck. Jumping between past and present, “Bumblebee” follows a young women quietly struggling with the loss of her partner. The film marks the first collaboration between Adam and his girlfriend, Nola Palmer, who wrote and stars in the film.

“Nola read me her short story late one night and I fell in love with it. So much so we decided to develop it into a screenplay. I have been shooting mostly documentary work recently, so it was amazing to work with an actor again, especially someone that has such a strong vision and range of emotion.”

Thanks to friend and DOP Bobby Shore, the pair got access to Panavision’s new large format Millenium DXL. Interested in conveying the power of loss to derail and send someone on a self-destructive path, they intentionally used old lenses (never designed for a large format sensor), to heighten the unique look and emotional nuance of the scenes. They similarly chose to shoot Nola alone in the flashback scenes as a way of keeping her partner only present as a fading memory, perpetually out of reach of both her and the audience.

Check out “Bumblebee” above as well as some behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot below!

Adam Beck’s Website

Adam Beck on Vimeo

Adam Beck on Instagram

A vampire enjoys a little disco dance party in this video for Gilligan Moss’s track “Want U So Bad” by director and choreographer Rianne White (previously featured here).

Video for Beyoncé and JAY-Z’s track “Apes**t” off their joint album, Everything Is Love. Shot by director Ricky Saiz at The Louvre on the down-back in May.

So many great moments in this cinematic video for Jesse Markin’s debut single “Blood” by director Kim Koponen of Pablo Films.

A troupe of body-bending dancers move through a house designed by Mexican architect Luis Barragán in this stunning experimental short by director Andrés Arochi. Complementing the iconic colours and geometric spaces of the iconic space, Arochi explains his approach as a balance between adhering to the physicality of the space as Luis Barragán intended and the spontaneous movements of the dancers no one could have expected. As he explains:

“I wanted to play around with and explore the architect’s design. He knew exactly when and where people stand, and how the combination of light and space makes them feel. When we began shooting, magic started to happen. Light burst in through the window, and the dancer’s bodies started to flow in a way I had not anticipated.”

This video was submitted by Mexico City-based Cineburó and selected by our team. Click here if you have a project you’d like us to check out!

An 80s inspired video about breaking free from routine by New York City-based filmmaking collective Idle House. As they shared with us: “The sound Surf Rock is Dead’s ‘Fitting the Mold’ is repetitive in nature. We wanted play with that throughout the video and showcase the repetitiveness we all feel in our lives, and how we escape that.”