Beautiful cinematography in this stylish documentary short by director Enis Manaz. “Le Périple d’Abélla” (Abélla’s Journey) follows a young woman who embarks on a journey to a fishing town in Senegal called Toubab Dialaw, abiding by a tradition that involves the giving of a handmade gift to one’s mother when they turn 25.

Featuring
Melisa Taylan
Beyhan Türkkollu
Şakir Doğuluer
Dan Lacey

Director: Enis Manaz
Producer: Evrim inci
Director of Photography: Cihangir Öztürk, Mert Hüroğlu
Music: VEYasin
Adapted Screenplay: Elif Feyza Demir
Lighting Director: Erdem Çelik
Assistan Director: Ezgi Baran, Yasin Erda
D.I.T: Ahmet Erdil
Photographer: Melih Ayakdaş
Interpreter: Fadime Dinçer
5.1 Sound Designer: Akif Emre Şenel

Melisa Taylan
Beyhan Türkkollu
Şakir Doğuluer
Dan Lacey

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

There are so many beautiful little details in this meditative short by filmmaker Ivyy Chen. The way the wind moves across the blades of grass, or the little clouds of dust that appear as the character stands up off the ground. “isle of Chair” explores the theme of mental health and our desire to fix things that we think need fixing. We’ll be thinking about this animation for awhile.

Written and Directed by Ivyy Chen
Storyboard and Designed by Ivyy Chen
Animated by Chen Hao Chuang, Ivyy Chen, Yi Ju Tseng, Liang Hsin Huang
Animation Assistance by David Rock
Colouring by Yi Ju Tseng
Original Score by Sarah Playford
Foley, Sound Design and Mixing by Mei Yi Ting Chang
Sponsored by Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation

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

In this fun little video directed by J. Logan Alexander, Roberto pays tribute to the small town of Dorrigo, Australia, saying “y’all created the first person I ever fell in love with”.

Directed by J. Logan Alexander
DP: Joaquim Pujol

Starring:
Roberto as Roberto “The Classic”
Simran Jehani as Sheila From Down Unda
Geoff Bywater as “The Future”
Tyrin Niles as Nails
Sakura as The Announcer
Brennan Pierson, Sean Quae, and Krissy Saleh as The Posse

Crew:
Story by: Roberto and J. Logan Alexander
Producers: Yves Beneche, Menu’Ette Silver, J. Logan Alexander, Elissa Nechamkin
UPM/AD: Ryan Metzler
Prod Design: Kevin Sisco
Costume Designer: Katie Powers
Stylist: Kiona Vickroy
Gaffer: Caleb Knowles
AC: Nick Conte
PA: Alex Ioanoviciu Ryan Contreas
DIT/2nd AD: Jake Schwartz
HMU: Nicole Baltodano
BTS: Saoli Nash
Sound: Chris Sinn
Mgmt: Rory Felton, Grayson Kirtland

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

A delightful animated short by illustrator Leah Putnam. Inspired by some of the strange dreams and observations she had during four months in quarantine, “Afternoon Nap” follows a girl who drifts into a deep sleep and finds herself lost in a cycle of bizarre and anxiety-ridden encounters.

“The soar of the coronavirus pandemic has put a hold on the daily routines and lifestyles of many. Throughout the lockdown period, I found myself having more vivid and memorable dreams, which I would consistently document. A lot of my work stems from the minor encounters I experience in everyday life. Being in one place for the majority of my time, I found more joy and excitement than usual in the mundane, everyday objects of my immediate surroundings. My work aims to bring about life and vibrancy from what one usually dismisses as a minor occurrence, through swift and sequential visual storytelling.”

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

“4 miles of paper animation at 24 fps. Made in a lockdown.” This is a visual feast! Another stunner from rubberband, this time co-directing with James Siewert for Lewis Del Mar’s latest, “TV”. Love all the textures and overall energy here!

Creative Direction & Directed by rubberband.
Co-Director & Lead Animator: James Siewert
Animation Team: Ben Duff, Christine Pfister, Sophia von Haeften
Post Lead & Finishing: Kao Cheng Kai

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

A visual play on Jungian psychology and the concept of the shadow for Stephen’s track “Delilah.” Directed by Mason Thorne, the song was inspired by Stephen’s relationship with drugs, his sexuality, and expanding sense of self. As Stephen states:

“Delilah is the name I’ve given my shadow — my repressed, unrecognized potentials and desires. She is temptation. She is seduction. The process of getting to know her has been scary and exciting, a deep sense of self-acceptance and power reached through self-annihilation.”

Director: Mason Thorne
Producer: Elizabeth Litvitskiy
Cinematographer: Jordan Holtane
Editor: Benton Africano
Colorist: Asa Fox
VFX: Matthew Stevens
VFX Company: Carbon VFX
Video Commissioner: Sheila DeMoura
BTS Photographer: Rob May
Produced by Anyhow

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

A lighthearted short about how we face society by Madrid-based filmmaker Mariano Schoendorff. The project was made during lockdown with 3 spare rolls of 16mm film and sparked by a passing comment at a party pre-pandemic wherein Inés Coca mention that her grandmother used to say that ‘one should never cry in public.’ Reflecting on the impact of that phrase, “My Discreet Charm” sees Schoendorff and Coca manifest a character from a 2020 “bourgeois” lens, using the prologue of movies such as Raising Arizona and 101 Dalmatians as their main sources of inspiration.

Starring Inés Coca
Director & Cinematographer: Mariano Schoendorff
Produced by Inés Coca
Written by Inés Coca & Mariano Schoendorff
Edited by Jorge Luengo
Colorist: Noemi Lallave
Composer: Nicolás Schilke
Sound Mixer: Rodrigo Autric
Sound Design: WHO SOUNDS
Graphic Designer: Amalia Aranguren

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

Two brothers must decide whether they will remain silent about a horrible secret in this emotionally absorbing short by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Major Dorfman.

Starring:
Eliezer German
Giuliano Escalante
Michael Badia
Sara Amante
Johnny Sanchez

Writer/Director/Editor: Major Dorfman
Producer: Natalia Luque
DP: Aarón Trujillo
Production Designer: Kathy Esquenazi
Location Sound Mixer: Kevin Haefelin
Sound Design & Mix: Lorenzo Rossi

Thanks to:
People’s Theater Project
Amor Deli

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

A stylish short from Los Angeles-based director Stephanie Szerlip. Inspired by the 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, “The Follower” tells the story of a misunderstood teen who entertains the increasingly sinister advances of an Internet friend as a way of escaping her dreary suburban life.

Starring Logan Polish & Jack Kilmer
Director: Stephanie Szerlip
Director of Photography: Sean Price Williams
Producer: Sarah Winshall
Set Designer: Natalie Fält
Costume Designer: Stacey Nishimoto
Hair & Makeup: Doniella Davy
Color: Jaime O’Bradovich
Original score: James Ferraro

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

Great look to this video for SAINt JHN’s “Roses” remix with Future by director John Tashiro (previously featured here).

Director/DP: John Tashiro
Production Company: SHOTCLOCK
Executive Producers: Harrison Corwin + Lucas Prevost
Creative Direction: Donny York
Additional Photography: Kevin Clark
Editor: Matthew C. Levy
Colorist: Ryan Berger @ Irving Harvey

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

Lots of fun visuals in this video for Danai Nielsen by Athens-based director Ioannis Nikiforos. “Kontoula Lemonia” (Short Lemon Tree) is a cover of a Greek folk song, performed in a fictional Athenian dialect alongside dub music.

Director: Ioannis Nikiforos
Director of Photography: Aigli Drakou
Art Director: Myrto Tzima
Gimbal Operator: Orestis Chatzitheodorou
Camera Assistant: Petros Ioannidis, Alexander Asplind
Color Grading: Grigoris Arvanitis
Makeup Artist: Ηara Vasiliadi
Choreography: Vera Zouka
Costume Design: Sophia Pappa
Production Assistant: Apostolos Zarris
Titles: DESIGNATURE

Cast:
Myrto Anagnostaki, Katerina Giannouli,
Katerina Katsoni, Odette Kouzou,
Konstantinos Mpourdos, Pinelopi Ntetsika,
Alexandros Pappas, Anastasia Polytsopoulou,
Tatiana Santsez, Aliki Zannikou

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

Nice raw feel to this short by London-based director Lauren Blackwell. “Métèque” was written by the film’s stars, Lyna Dubarry and Lou Stassen, and tells the true story of a hard-working young woman, whose sense of security and comfort is upended by an administrative issue that threatens her ability to remain in the country she calls home. While touching on broader questions of belonging and displacement, the film explores the shifting dynamics of those closest to her as everyone reacts to her experience in their own way.

Starring
Lyna Dubarry
Lou Stassen
Elliot Jenkins
Oisín Nolan
Hana Hrzic
Amelia Parillion

Director: Lauren Blackwell
Writer: Lyna Dubarry & Lou Stassen
Editor: Lee Robinson
DOP: Romain Rampillon
Music & Sound Design: Neil Balser

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