Dublin-born filmmaker Marion Bergin delves into the controversial pastime of inner-city horse culture. While the equestrian legacy of Dublin’s working-class has often been marginalized and negatively portrayed in the media, “Saoirse” offers a snapshot of some of the men who genuinely care about their animals and their struggle to keep this unique aspect of the city from being erased by new property development and gentrification. As Bergin states:

“Toxic masculinity is something the media has made synonymous with inner-city culture. I chose to shine a different light on these men, to portray them as I saw them — normal people with warm hearts and the same concerns for their futures and families as the rest of us.”

Director/Producer: Marion Bergin
DOP: Narayan van Maele
Focus Puller: Eileen Timmons
Editor: Ciaran Murray
Original Music and Sound Design: James D Latimer
Sound Recordists: Soundspeed
Colourist: Leandro Arouca @ Element Post

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

Some lovely cinematography in this self-directed video from Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Sam Lynch. Filmed on the unceded Indigenous lands of the Katzie, Stó:lō, Coast Salish, and Kwikwetlem First Nations, the track is set against the simple opposing backdrops of confined domesticity and vast natural landscape:

“My aim with the ‘Keeping Time’ video was to simply convey and juxtapose feelings of confinement, stillness, and stagnation against those of freedom, motion, and release.”

Director: Sam Lynch
Director of Photography: Brock Newman
Editor: Sam Tudor
Colourist: Sam Gilling

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

A wonderful documentary short about an exuberant 72 year-old gay artist named Miguel by San Francisco-based filmmaker Danny Navarro. More than just a tribute to Navarro’s friend and former landlord, “My Neighbor, Miguel” offers a personalized archive of the AIDs epidemic as Miguel reflects on art, community, and life after another such isolating time that affected the entire world.

“Miguel was my former landlord in San Francisco. Each month, I would see him hang beautiful art pieces outside of my living room window which faced Mcallister Street for all to see. I fell in love with these pieces and became fascinated with their elusive maker who donned a thick Colombian accent and handlebar moustache. Over time, Miguel and I became friends which is how I learned about the story behind his art and how delicately intertwined it was to his past.”

Director: Danny Navarro
Producers: J.M. Harper & Vanessa Upson-Harper
Cinematographer: J.M. Harper
1st AC: Garet Jatsek
Editor: Ian Park
Assistant Editor: Byron Leon
Art Director: Alexandra Kaucher
Sound Design & Mix: Cody Twitchell
Colorist: Mary Perrino
Composer: William Ryan Fritch
Artwork: Crystal Vielula
Special Thanks: GLBT Historical Society Museum San Francisco,
Bay Area Reporter, Mono No Aware

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

Photographer Mark C. opens up about his process while reflecting on his viral photo of the Black Lives Matter 2020 protest in front of Trump Tower. Shot and directed by Brandon Haynes and Parker Foster.

A Film by Brandon Haynes & Parker Foster
Edited by Parker Foster
Color: Brandon Haynes
Sound Design & Mix: Ethan Startzman
Composers: Myles Tate & Ethan Startzman
Production Company: Guerrilla Wolf
Additional Photography: Mark Clennon

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

A young man thinks about a love that is impossible in this video for Kazakhstani musician M’Dee’s track “Do Zavtra” (Till tomorrow) by Moscow-based director Konstantin Kuchin.

Written and Directed by Konstantin Kuchin
Director of Photography: Igor Kiselev
Produced by Pavel Gretsky, Elena Panfilova
Cast: Maksim Blinov, Julia Gnedchik
Producer: Victoria Aleksandrovskaya
Production Designer: Vasiliy Archangelsky
Style: Ksenia Afanasyeva
Style Assistant: Ksenia Petrukhina
MUA: Lucy Shishkova
MUA Assistant: Anastasiya Kukushkina
1st AD: Ivan Semenenko
Focus Puller: Ruslan Osipov
2nd AC: Oleg Demkiv, Dmitry Gorin
Dolly: Roman Lobanov, Yury Gordov, Denis Shturnov, Alexander Mazurikov
Gaffer: Timur Kulaev
SFX: Eugene Sorokin
Location Manager: Alexander Kalkaev
Casting Director: Dmitry Bohanov, Iui Sin Iu Sofia
Photographer: Natalia Butova
Editor: Alexander Chuikov
Colorist: Nikolay Vavilov
Sound Design: Nikita Alekseenko
Title Design: Farkhad Khaitbayev
Clean Up: Galactica VFX
Rental: Elisey Gladnikov
Special Thanks: Nensi Avetisian
Title: Black х TakeShot

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

A wonderful character-driven short by Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Meysam Motazedi of Toronto-based Mad Amendments. Set amidst the city’s sprawling suburbs, “Toward You” tells the story of Shiva, an eccentric and tenacious teen determined to pursue her dream of becoming a socially-conscious slam poet. Passionate but short-tempered, Shiva’s only source of support comes from her deaf father who feels a mystical connection to her verses. Watch above and check out some behind-the-scenes images from the shoot below!

Starring
Rojan Molanian
Juan Jaramillo
Reed Johnston
Ramin Ahmadzadeh
Tonya Dodds

Written & Directed by Meysam Motazedi
Produced by Soledad Vega
Director of Photography: Peter Hadfield
Production Designer: Talia Missaghi
Edit: Alexander Farah
Associate Producer: Emilija Davidovic
Casting Director: Jesse Griffiths
Assistant Director: Micheal Kehren
Production Assistant: Sawyer Edworthy
1st Assistant Camera: Monica Meng
2nd Assistant Camera: Tom Wood
Key Grip: John Mauch
Gaffers: Julian Samuels & Nick Tiringer
Sound Mixer: Gorjan Veletic
Makeup & Hair Stylist: Charlotte Klein
Script Supervisor: Sally Jones
ASL Interpreter: Kerry Lee Finkle
ASL Coach: Braden Kenopic
Sound Editor/Designer: David Mesiha
Dialogue Editor: David Mesiha
Post Sound Mix: Paolo Amati
Colour: Technicolor

Produced with the assistance of the National Film Board of Canada – Filmmaker Assistance Program
Funding provided by the Government of Ontario (Ontario Arts Council)
A Mad Amendments production

Meysam Motazedi’s Website

Meysam Motazedi on Vimeo

Meysam Motazedi on Instagram

Toronto-based director Alicia K. Harris tells the story of two lovers on the run in this dreamy musical film inspired by Jessie Reyez album, Before Love Came To Kill Us.

Writer & Director: Alicia K. Harris
Producer: Sarah Quan
Production Company: AK Anthems, TrePalm, Route Eleven
Commissioned by: Polaris Music Prize
Executive Producers: Alicia K. Harris, Alex Rozanec, Peter Lilly, Sam Sferrazza
Associate Producers: Mauricio Diaz, Naiyelli Romero Agüero
Cinematographer: Ann Tipper
Production Designer: Dialla Kawar
Costume Designer: Lori Atik
Hair + Make-Up Artist: Nehnika Williams
Editor: Kathryn Lyons
Sound Designer: Amanda Ann-Min Wong
Starring: Nicole Nwoklo, Robert Duffenais, Pascale Behrman

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

Two strangers appear to share the same mysterious affliction in this subtly surreal video for Pale Moon by Barcelona-based director Carles Pons Altimira (previously featured here).

“Framed in a dystopian world, “Stranger” works as a portrait of the moment in which a thing, that has always been like that, becomes something else. We can sometimes be more aware of others than of ourselves, and it is exactly when we take a look inside that magical things happen.”

Directed by Carles Pons Altimira
Produced by Òrbita
Director of Photography: Albert Bada Leal
Art Director: Mar Medinyà
Producer: Laia Ortíz
Focus Puller: Sara Hermo
Costume Designer: Natasha Sushchenko
Postproduction Coordinator: Miquel Cussó
FX Artist: Manuel Revuelta
Colorist: Martí Somoza
Sound Design: Árni Guðjónsson
Book Design & Credits: Coure
Cast: Natasha Sushchenko & Árni Guðjónsson
BTS & Runner: Arkady Vyrlan

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

Lovely mix of visuals in this video for Sharlot’s track “Farewell Waltz” by Moscow-based director Arthur Gurin (previously featured here).

Starring
Eduard Shalot
Yasmina Omerovich
Daria Zhovner
Ilyusha
Vladimir Gurin

Directed & Photographed by Arthur Gurin
Produced by Arthur Gurin & Oleg Medvedev
Production Designer: Veronica Roth
Costumes: Arthur Gurin
MUAH: Valeria Osipova
1st AC: Daniil Bolotnikov
Gaffer: Alexander Aleshnikov
Photographer (Story): Arthur Gurin
Photographer (Portraits): Alexey Fokin
Editing & Colour Grading: Arthur Gurin
Thanks to: Boris Aristov, Oleg Medvedev, Egor Gurin

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

A portrait of Cairo during heavy rain and little shine by director Karim Shaaban. “Form, Space and Chaos” takes us on a journey through different neighbourhoods while the Egyptian painter, Salah Taher, shares his views about the city on the radio. As Shaaban states:

“The weather is a metaphor to the chaos my underprepared city and its dwellers have to experience when the ‘unexpected’ happens, in contrast to the usual chaos that is the city itself.”

Director & Editor: Karim Shaaban
DP: Fawzi Darwish
Sound Design & Mix: Fady Garas
8mm Processing Lab: Colorlab NYC

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

Russian reality dissolves into a sea of absurdity in this wonderfully bizarre video by Yanzi for Kasseta’s track “Rewind the Tape.”

Made by Yanzi
Actors: Teymourkhan Gasanov, Pyotr Skvortsov,
Yasha Hitzenko, Sergey Scherbin, Oleg Fisher
Simulations: Sergey Nikulin
Train shading: Vladimir Lukoyanov
3D Scans: Live Resin
Scans processing: Alexander Gaponov
Additional Rigging: Ravshan Gaziev
Spraypaint simulation: Danya Orlovskiy
Sound: Sergey Scherbin, Oleg Fisher

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

Beautiful video for Gracie and Rachel directed by New York City-based cinematographer Andrea Gavazzi (previously featured here). “Sidelines” centres around Gracie and Rachel’s family friend Connie, as she speaks openly about the sudden and tragic loss of her lifelong partner, Danny. A testament to the strength of human attachment, Connie’s intimate recollections are intertwined with footage of relationships at all stages of love. As Gavazzi states:

“Something that has always struck me is how time affects memories and the way we perceive a past event in our life. The more time passes, the more our memory selects random bits to keep. We can’t completely understand why these memories are so clear, why that moment and not another one, and I don’t even think we question it; it just feels right, it feels it represents the essence of us, so we hold on to that instant. ‘Sidelines’ is not about what we could have done differently, but how we will do it differently in the future or next time.”

Director/DP: Andrea Gavazzi
Editor: Matt Schaff
Color: Parker Jarvie at Co3
Color Producer: Matt Moran at Co3
VFX/Animation: Francesco Esposito
Executive Producer: Nuer Taqa at Radiance Pictures
Producer: Jake DeNicola
Focus Puller: Ben Scofield
Sound: Eliot Worth
Sound Design: Romain Sturma
Label: Righteous Babe Records
Mgmt: Invasion Group
Thanks to: Steve McCord, Adam Wolf, Tom Fenaille, Mayer Chalom
Special Thanks: Alyssa Trawkina, Marta Chierego, Vera Comploj,
Company 3, Emily Epstein, Alexis Gee

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