A lovely performance of “Auld Lang Syne” by director Tyler Jones. As we enter the first moments of the New Year, “For the Sake of Old Times” opens by asking how one should respond to the memories of the past: should 2020 be forgotten?

“Folks will soon gather to celebrate, many in surgical masks, eager to leave this year behind with a song whose melody is known more than its meaning. But then what? Where does the collective trauma of 2020 go, despite the optimism that better days are magically ahead?… Now, in a strange New Year’s season of quiet refrain, the song honors a time of progress and struggle that deserves to not be forgotten any time soon.”

Singers
Allison Sanders
Carrie Davis
TaMisa Booker
Fatima Battles
Meredith Pearson
Jill Gray
Jamise French
Justin Davis
Eloise Gaffney
Ebonee Elliot
Jaxon Moore
Meliah Capers
Juilianne Chaney
Lori Rayne
Ingrid Richardson
Wisdom Bibbgs
Alton Mitchell
Ronnie Cook

Director & Editor: Tyler Jones
Producer: Mark Slagle
DOP: Sean Patrick Kirby
Production Coordinator: Alexandra K. Kirby
1st AC: Jay Galloway
2nd AC: C. A. Jones
Gaffer: Jon Champion
Key Grip: Mike Falco
Grip Assistant: Matthew Henton
1st AD: Kayla Gladney
Choir Director: Carrie Davis
Production Assistant: Thi Denerson
Audio Engineer: Corey Scogin
Recording Assistant: Nateka Scogin
Photographer: Andi Rice
Music Supervisor: Caleb Chancey
Musical Coordinator: Abigail Workman
Archival Coordinator: Jocelyn Zhou
Mix Engineer: Joel Blount
Lighting provided by Champion Lighting and Grip

Archival
C. A. Jones
Brett Adair
Sliced Bread
Makebeautiful.co

Special Thanks
James Kling
DeWinn Tibbs
Dr. Reginald Jackson

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

Nice look and feel to this video for Rudy De Anda by director Adam Neustadter (previously featured here). Starring Sydney Schaefer, “Helado” follows Rudy as he relocates to Chicago while still reflecting on the girl of his dreams back in LA. As Neustadter states:

“We shot Sydney as sort of a fantasy version of his ex, dancing on a bridge over the LA River at magic hour while dressed as a mariachi. This polished dream-like thread is contrasted by more intimate moments with Rudy in Chicago. LA was captured on Panavision glass, while I shot Chicago with vintage zoom lenses to give it more of a documentary feeling.”

Director: Adam Neustadter
DP: Jay Swuen (LA)/ Adam Neustadter (Chicago)
AC: Fernando Lopez
Editor: Adam Neustadter
Production: Tom Sykes

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

A wonderfully strange meditation on human nature by German director Ferdinand Feldmann. “The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings” follows a detached man whose observations of a moth buzzing around a light sparks questions about what we are all chasing after in a world that is so incomprehensible.

Starring
Thilo Garus
Manfred Weigl
Yuuki Tang
Giulia Gallizzi
Salif Botz
Mateo Golisano
Maida Touagbere
Federico Brens

Director: Ferdinand Feldmann
Production Company: Studio CNP
Director of Photography: Tobias Blickle
Executive Producer: Christoph Schaller
Editor: Christian Zimmerman
Costume Design: Nelson Heinemann
Production Design: Marleen Johow
Hair/Make-up: Fritzi Feldmann, Andru Elias
Colorist: Jonny Thorpe
Sound Design / Mix: Raphaël Ajuelos
Poems: “Everybody is a stranger now” & “Conclusion” by Monty Richthofen

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

A portrait of Whitechapel and the people that pass through its busy streets by Irish filmmaker Finn Keenan (previously featured here). Shot pre-Covid on 5D Mark III and set to the Jamie xx remix of Four Tet’s track “Lion.” Love the grainy look of this footage.

A beautiful performance by Douglas Dare and a string quartet of players from the London Contemporary Orchestra. Directed by Simon Lane, “Heavenly Bodies” was shot between lockdowns at the beginning of September 2020 in the St John of Jerusalem Church in Hackney, London.

Director: Simon Lane
DP: Jake Gabbay
Focus: James Hills
Gaffer: Jonny Boomer
Steadicam: Beaumont Pritchard-James
Loader: Henry Gill
Processing: Cinelab London
Special thanks: Aarti Mahtani
Runner: Emma Boomer
Production: Clouded Vision
Record Label: Erased Tapes

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

Dove Cameron spends a night by herself in this video for “We Belong” by Toronto-based director Luke Nairn (previously featured here). Shot on 35mm film stock by cinematographer Jeremy Cox at the Eppich House in Vancouver, designed by renowned architect Arthur Erickson.

Director: Luke Nairn
Exec Producer: Isil Gilderdale
Exec Producer: Harland Weiss
Exec Producer: Donovan Boden
DP: Jeremy Cox
Production Designer: Chris Andrews
Producer: Colin Walker
Production Manager: Robb de Rushe
Choreographer: Rachel Giles
Color: Marshall Plante at Sunset Edit
VFX/Finishing: Sunset Edit
Titles: Ralph Damann
DV Editing: Kostadin Kolev
1st AC: Robin Rigault
Grip: Luke Strahm
Gaffer: Alex Ross
Stylist: Erin Walsh
Stylist Assistant: Angelique Basson
Hair Stylist: Erin Klassen
Make Up Artist: Min Jee Mowat
Swing: Sam Tudor
Loader: Hayden Rensch
Still Photography: Julia Verea
Art PA: Lucas Gordon
PA: Sydney Lloyd
PA: Laura Buchanan
Cake: Claire Geddes Bailey
Production Company: OPC
Film Processed at MELS Montreal
Film Scanned at Film House Vancouver
Special thanks: Sophia Smith, Ana Escorse,
Kyle Sanderson, and The Eppich Family

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

A delightfully quirky reflection on the unforgettable year that was 2020 by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Kendall Goldberg. “Just Like Yesterday” tells the story of Cordelia Katstopolis, an average girl attempting to normalize her work from home routine on a day that isn’t quite like any other.

Directed by Kendall Goldberg
Written by Kendall Goldberg & Nika Burnett
Starring Nika Burnett
Cinematography by Christian Klein
Edited by Kendall Goldberg
Narrated by Carlos Alazraqui
French Lessons by Magali Gauthier
Sound Mixer: Cullen Herron
Colorist: Elliott Powell

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

A hedonistic night takes an unexpected turn in this intense short by New York City-based director Andree Ljutica. Captured in a single take, “How to Say I Love You at Night,” tells the story of two young men navigating the expectations of a first date. When Paul (Chris Petrovski) shows up unannounced and refuses to leave, Benny’s (Mat Vairo) struggles to put an end to things amicably, raising issues of socioeconomic disparity and the way our differences often present first as fears.

Starring Mat Vairo & Chris Petrovski
Written & Directed by Andree Ljutica
Cinematographer: Arseni Khatchaturan
Executive Producer: Andree Ljutica, Smamela Panderson, LLC.,
Robin Thurau-Ljutica, Andre Bato Films
Producer: Maximilian Kurzweil, Andre Bato Films, Andree Ljutica
Color: Josh Bohoskey, The Mill
Color Producer: Evan Bauer, The Mill
Sound Designer: Raphael Ajuelos, Eli Cohn
Sound Mix: Eli Cohn, Nocturnal Sounds
Casting Director: Mimi Packer
Editor: Andree Ljutica
Production Designer: Amy Knoth
Music: Augustus Muller

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

Australian filmmaker Callum Cooper has finally released his wonderful film, “Little Brother,” online after ten years! The short follows a teenage boy named Kola (Ola Alexander) who uses his hearing impairment to escape from his daily routine, and the responsibility of looking after his wheelchair-bound younger brother (Tolani Oni). Cooper wrote the script in collaboration with the Oni family after meeting them through the local community theatre workshops he volunteered at while studying at The Royal College of Art.

“Little Brother” originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2011. At the time Cooper hesitated to release the project on the internet out of respect and concern for the family involved. However, now that the kids are grown, the family is keen to share the film with friends. Cooper also hopes this online release will help promote Hackney Shed — the organization that brought him and the Oni family together in the first place. In terms of what inspired him initially, Cooper states:

“There is something beautifully honest about families with special needs children. I think being under constant public scrutiny you are forced to be less self-conscious and to adopt a matter of fact attitude about life.”

The scene at the pool stuck with us all these years—really excited to share the film here now! Watch “Little Brother” above and see full credits below!

Starring
Ola Alexander
Tolani Oni
Olabisi T Oni
Darren Anthony Moore

Written, Produced & Directed by Callum Cooper
Cinematographer: Michael Latham
Camera Assistant: Chris Paul Daniels
Sound Recordist: Kelvin Brown
First AD: Ana Tiquia
Cinematographer: Leigh Alner
Camera Assistant: James Winterflood
Camera Operator: Garath Harfoot
Gaffer: Sam Heasman
Sound Recordist: Mike Lee Taylor
First AD: Jan Lun Lee
Stills Photographer: Ana Tiquia
PlayBack: Veselina Dashinova
Bus Driver: Martin Bennet
Editor: Anna Meller
Colourist/Grader: Chris Teeder
Sound Designer: Sandy Milne & Callum Cooper
Titles/Credit Design: Mark El-Khatib
Poster, Press Design: Ray O’Meara
Dubbing Mix: Jay Price
Assistant VFX: Sarah Beeby
Executive Producer: M Bobby Kapur

Puppetry:
Aggeliki Polatou
Jean Hammond
Kate Moore
Osun Bramble
Klaus Robert
Peter Provis
Tessie Dowling
Kola Oni
Gibril Sonco
Bianca Darlington
Yang Jiwon
Wendy Cook
Dan Ojari
Liz Le Drew

Thanks to:
Edith Rae Bennett Traveling scholarship
Graham Pryor at Panavision UK
John Grey at SohoFilm Labs
London School of Puppetry
Rebecca Rau at Kodak UK
Nat Cohen Scholarship
Ana Tiquia
Lucie Kalmar
Hackney Shed/Risk Sound
Phil Shafe at Metroline Bus
Paul Zeal at Parliament Hill Lido
Richards O’Mahony at Royal Parks
and the staff and students at RCA
Color grade- Soho Film Labs and Ascent 142
Audio Mix- Risk Sound Melbourne
Audio Master- National Film and Television School
35 print- Technicolor UK
35 Audio- Dolby UK

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

A mysterious group of people struggle for survival in this post-apocalyptic video for Ankobo + Kaboo’s track “Wakangenei” by Moscow-based director Felix Umarov (previously featured here). Following a cataclysmic event that has poisoned the air and covered the planet with sand, a small tribe subsists on the objects they find in the sand and the belief that one day a saviour will come and the air will become clean again.

Director: Felix Umarov
DOP: Andrey Krauzov
Production Designer: Vasya Ivanov
Produced by Galina Kolchina & Ruslan Bikbaev
Co-Producer: Mikhail Goglov
Edit: Kirill Khandurin, Felix Umarov
Costume Designer: Vasya Ivanov
Makeup Art Direction: Fariza Rodriguez & Julia Rada

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

Director John Davies tells a literal, living story of the butterfly effect in this uplifting documentary short. “The Flying Gold of Arabuko” explores the rise of butterfly farming in Kenya and how the unusual practice has helped to save the last and largest remnant of the East African Coastal Forest System. Decimated by illegal logging and poaching in recent decades, the film is told from the perspective of someone who once contributed to the environmental devastation himself, but whose work is now inextricably linked to protecting the fragile ecosystem from extinction.

Dir/Prod/DP/Edit : John Davies
Composer : Madison Willing
Sound Design : Markus Andreas
Colourist : Francis Qureshi
ACs : Jake Davison, Daniel Stuart

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

A somber visualization of the oil mine catastrophes of post-Soviet countries in the last century for Kazakh artist Maslo Chernogo Tmina’s track “unknown world.” Directed by Aisultan Seitov (previously featured here), with cinematography by Anatoliy Trofimov.

Director: Aisultan Seitov
DOP: Anatoliy Trofimov
Producer: Akzhan Oxykbayeva
Line Producer: Alibek Kaliyev
Line Producer: Stanislav Istratov
Executive Producer: Yerkebulan Kurishbayev
Management: Vitaliy Belov
1st AD: Yevgeniya Moreva

OTFX SFX department:
Olzhas Rakhmanov
Talgat Sembayev
Viktor Poplavskiy
Yerlan Svankulov
Anatoliy Sarsenbayev
Nurgazy Eshankulov
Bauyrzhan Kukubassov

Costume Designer: Akbope Abdrash
CD assistant: Aizhan Kali
CD assistant: Aitolkyn Rustenbekova
Style: Aizat Sarsembayev
MUA: Galiya Begeyeva
MUA assistant: Dana Vinokurova
Casting: Made of management
Production Designer: Nazira Baibekova
PD assistant: Elaman Ainabekov
PD assistant: Almat Konakbaev
Edit: Shynggys Bogdanov
Color: Yerlan Tanayev
VFX: Yelaman Buralkiev
VFX: Allan Amirkulov
Post production Producer: Anuar Bazargeldi
Drone operator: Nursultan Baiken
Administration: Askar Satybayev
Administration: Askar Tulegenov
Administration: Azat Zhumurov
Administration: Askhat Zhassimov

Runner:
Elina Kim
Daniyar Dyusekenov
Aset Tamenov
Dauren Erzhanuly
Adil Zhanbyrbayev
Asylbek Asanov
Nurtugan Dairbek

Location manager: Alexandr Tsvetkov
Backstage Photographer: Viktor Magdeyev
Backstage Photographer: Maxim Kassimov
Backstage Photographer: Aidana Seitova
Backstage Photographer: Sabina Amangeldyna
Technical Support: Rent-A-Film
Craft: Dinara Goncharova, Gozhikh Yevgeniya
Drivers: Ayan Berikbosynov, Talant Yermekbay, Gani Uteyev, Yerlan Shaperov, Yerzhan Adil

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