An absorbing documentary short directed by Arizona-based filmmaker Nickolas Duarte of Crown Chimp. “Jay” explores themes of spirituality, gender identity, and mental illness as it follows the story of Jay Kyle Petersen in his own words. From his childhood in Minnesota where he was raised female to his life in Arizona where he now paints soul energy, Jay takes us through his struggles and the painful memories of torment and abuse that ultimately led to a path of hope and healing.

Content Warning: The video above contains descriptions of sexual assault that some viewers may find triggering.

Featuring Jay Kyle Petersen
Directed by Nickolas Duarte
Edited by Matthew King
Cinematography by Will Turner
Produced by Frank Armendarez & Sonia Campbell
1st AD (interviews): Keith Wagner
1st AD (reenactments): Frank Armendarez
Sound Design & Mix by Mike Clark

Starring
Young Jay – Destiny Vasquez
Teen Jay/Young Man – Stephanie Ingmire
Male Date – Jared Craven
Female Date – Dylan Page
Grandma Petersen – Pat Kaye
Mother/Hooded Figure – Kimberly Wolcott
Father/Hooded Figure – Steve McKee
Cousin/Hooded Figure – Bradford Trajan
Uncle/Hooded Figure – Drew Grubich
Grandpa/Hooded Figure – Mark Klugheit

As themselves
Jay Kyle Petersen
Tish Monroe
Lesley Lillywhite
Irene Messina
Karen Symons
Judy Gatrell
Nickolas Duarte
Penny the dog
Kool Cat the cat
Pig

Production Design: Jessica Van Ravenswaay
Locations: Frank Armendarez
Make Up: Sonia Campbell
Location Audio: Mike Clark
DIT (interviews): Ben Montemayor
Camera & Lighting: Chance Robert, Evan Colten
Production Assistants: Katie Healey, Christina Evans, Stephanie Orr
Dog Wrangler: Christia Abell
Cat Wrangler: Randy R. Culpepper
Pig Wrangler: Angel Canez
Colorist: Will Turner
Online Editor: Matthew King
Executive Producer: Nickolas Duarte

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

Nice video for Sydney-based band Fig directed by the band’s own Tim Burnett. Shot by Grégoire Lière in Kosciuszko National Park in NSW, Australia — an area that has since been ravaged by the Summer bushfires — “At The Sign of Connie & Charlie’s” tells the story of a man brought to breaking point while maintaining a dilapidated building he sees as the glorious hotel it used to be.

Starring Sam Parsonson
Director: Tim Burnett
DOP: Grégoire Lière
Producer: Gus Kennelly
1AC: Pat Weicks
1AD: Simon Jackman
Production Design: Rachel Mackay
Production Coordinator: Timothy Jennings
Editor: Braden Trotter
Floristry: Annie Mangen
Colourist: Yanni Kronenberg

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

London rapper Jelani Blackman shows how striking it big also risks being buried alive in the video for “Swerve” by director Brock Neal-Roberts of Agile Films (previously featured here).

Director: Brock Neal-Roberts
Producer: George Hill
Executive Producer: Hayley Williams
1st AD: Gabriel O’donohoe
DOP: Spike Morris
1st AC: Raul Menendez
2nd AC: Marcia Sousa
Gaffer: Helio Ribeiro
Spark 1: Yan Murawskk
Spark 2: Luke Greenan
HMU: Sogol Razimua
Colour: Jason Wallis @ ETC Colour
Production Designer: Eve Shillingford
Stylist: Katie Reid

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

A wonderful spotlight on Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani by directors Danielle Brock and Nick Ravich of Art21 (previously featured here). Unpacking her unique sense of humour and political style, “In Between Languages” follows Bennani as she prepares for a recent show at a Brooklyn gallery and poses the question: What if one language just isn’t enough?

“Being in New York for ten years, with English as my second language, and feeling like I’m losing a little bit of my first language French…I’ve found that developing this practice that pulls from so many different languages of TV, cinema, sculpture and installation, and mixing it all together has allowed me to hit the right note, in my own way.”

Produced by Art21, Inc
Directed by Danielle Brock & Nick Ravich
Edited by Rosie Walunas
Cinematography by Jarred Alterman, Mason Cash & Souki Mehdaoui

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

Love the surreal elements in this video for Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes’ collaboration “What Kinda Music” by São Paulo-based director Douglas Bernardt of Stink Films (previously featured here). A contemporary metaphor about the pressure of living in an urban city, the film follows a young man caught in a looped routine and sense of paranoia that manifests as a labryinthine forest in his mind.

Director: Douglas Bernardt
Production Company: Stink Films
Executive Producer: Katie Lambert
Producer: Martha McGuirk
DP: Adolpho Veloso
Editor: Lucas Moesch (Final Cut NY)
VFX: Cirilo Bonazzi (Nash TV)
Colorist: Tim Stipan (Company 3)
Director Rep: HANDS
Commissioner: Connie Meade & Duncan Murray
Service Company: RadioAktive
Producer: Valentyn Petyshkin
Executive Producer: Kate Galytska
Producer: Valentyn Petyshkin
Focus Puller: Vlad Dobrik
Production Designer: Max Halushka
Gaffer: Leonid Sidorenko
Location Manger: Dima Shevchenko
Casting Manager: Sergey Ristenko
Wardrobe Stylist: Sergey Melnichenko (weRelease.studio)
Wardrobe Stylist: Sergey Volniy (weRelease.studio)
Make Up: Dasha Taivas
Chaperone: Alex Vashkolup
Chaperon: Andrew Birch
VFX: Nash TV
Post Producer: Flávia Gannam
VXF Supervisor: Cirilo Bonazzi
VFX Artists: Alice Villela, Cirilo Bonazzi, Diogo de Moura Modesto, Felipe
Passarini
3D Supervisor: Fagmario Rodrigues
3D Artist: Fabio Fernandes
Post Production Coordinator: Andre Baltrusaitis
Post Production Assistants: Gabriel Bittencourt, Renata Prado
Grade: Company 3 LA
Colour Producer: Matt Moran
Shot on Kodak FIlm 16mm

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

Bristol-based filmmaker Arthur Cauty revisits the bygone days of video rental in this delightful documentary short about 20th Century Flicks. Still in business today, Flicks is the oldest video rental store in the world thanks to a close-knit crew that have unwittingly become custodians of the largest collection of DVDs and VHS tapes in the UK.

Featuring:
David Taylor
David White
Paul Green
Daisy Steinhardt
Marion Lawrence

A film by Arthur Cauty

Music:
Cerulean Skies
Future Joust
Strom
ELFL

Title Animation: Charles Yeager
a DC7 Films production

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

A thoughtful visualization for Christian Löffler’s track “Noah” by Californian filmmaker Mishka Kornai of Theia Studio. Currently based in Berlin, Kornai documents the lives of three real people in an effort to answer the question: “Who still uses telephone booths?” The video centres around three urban booths in Montréal, Berlin and London. Deserted by most but indispensable to some, here the cubicles appear more like teleportation capsules — portals into distant or past relationships — raising further questions about our modern world of virtual communication and what happens when these physical spaces for connection are gone. Of the cast, Kornai also shares:

“Johnny, in his 70s, grew up in Egypt but moved to Montréal over 50 years ago. He has two children and owns a shop on the island of Point Saint Charles which sells rare gems and minerals. Magdalene’s parents came to London from Ghana and she grew up between her UK family and her grandmother in Ghana. Magdalene’s husband of over 17 years, Gerald is the face on the other side of her phone call. Dylan is a performance artist originally from Ireland currently finishing their university studies in Poznan Poland. They are planning a move to Berlin after completing school this summer. The photos in the video are from a single night out clubbing in Berlin.”

Starring
Ohannes “Johnny” Bedrossian (Montréal)
Magdalene Mills + Gerald Vanderpuye (London)
Dylan Kerr + Jack Scollard (Berlin)

Directed by Mishka Kornai
Produced by Theia.Studio
Editor: Patrick Moccia
Producer: Letty Houldsworth
Colorist: Kaitlyn Battistelli
Movi Operators: Austin Sumner-Grass, Sal Redpath, Robert Paul Kothe
Montreal Producer: Rachelle Alexandra Fleury
Post Production: Ethos Studio
Camera Assistants: Jon Barlas, Elliot Poyzer, Lukas Schaaf, Tucker Grindstaff
Archival Scanning: Gary Munden
Additional Still Photography: Jack Scollard, Letty Houldsworth
London Casting: Anna McAuley
London Makeup: Holly Gallienne-Schmidt
Compositing: Mishka Kornai
Paintouts: Tanner Merrill
Production Assistant: Kenny Bernklau,
Commissioner: Ki Records/ Juste Survilaite
Special Thanks: Jerad Anderson, Arthur Jongebloed,
Gaia Seguin Lutz, Victoria Perlini, Kate Villevoye,
Pippy Houldsworth, Will Niava, Dan Carr,
Jeremy Comte, Sophia Murlowski, Judith Jakob,
Post-Moderne, Ariel Fisher, Trevor Doherty, Luke Orlando

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

Nice mix of visuals in this video for Orville Peck by New York City-based director Austin Peters (previously featured here). Produced by RadicalMedia, “Queen of the Rodeo” features First Nations community member and drag queen, Jem, as she makes her way to the rodeo in Forth Worth, Texas.

Starring
Orville Peck
Jem
Delilah DuBois
Elizabeth Becerril
Ryan Maddon
Elle Dorado
Minxie Mimieux
Tess Holiday
Dez Sam
Evan Tate
Ketch Weaver
Sam Lao
Christopher “Click” Thompson
Alan Bick
Louisianna Purchase
Ketan Wyatt
Tami Thomsen

Director: Austin Peters
Producer: Daniel Dewes
Executive Producer: Jennifer Heath
Production Manager: Lisa Normand
Production Company: RadicalMedia
Cinematographer: Bill Kirstein
1st AC: Sean Lyons, Jacqualine Lehr
2nd AC: Karissa Leicht
Data Manager: Ryland Maserang
Steadicam Op: Jordan Boston Jones
Gaffer: Maximo Contrera(Queen of the Rodeo), Maryn McGaw (Roses Are Falling)
Grip: Russell Rakestraw (Queen of the Rodeo), Noah Kelly (Roses Are Falling
Art Director: Wylie Gelber (Roses Are Falling)
Jem HMU: Matthew Leaf
HMU/Stylist: Ashley Whitby
2nd Assistant Director: Rudy Gutierrez
Production Assistant: Hank Likes
Production Assistant: Brey Browne
Production Assistant: Nick Bozas
Sound Design by Q Department
Producer: Molly Young
Editorial by Cosmo Street
Editor: Marlo Caine
Assistant Editor: Kyle Moriarty
Head of Production: Luiza Naritomi
Color and VFX by The Mill
VFX EP: Heath Raymond
VFX Leads: John McIntosh, Kshitij Khanna
VFX Artists: Luke Midgley, Lucia Hill Barroso
Colorist: Mikey Rossiter
Special Thanks: Fort Worth Film Commission

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

A delightfully absurd short by Los Angeles-based writer and director Jonny Look (previously featured here). Heavily informed by the ridiculous research projects of the 60s/70s, “Assholes” follows a group of scientist who use an extreme method of physical and psychological torture on a variety of houseplants in order to coax them to communicate with humans.

Starring
Linas Phillips
Kyle Mizuno
Will Hines
Ashleigh Hairston
Sam Buchanan
Eric D. Johnson
Lian Wesierski
Adam Willis

Written & Directed by Jonny Look
Produced by Russell Sanzgiri
Executive Producers: David Martinez, Kristopher Barton, Terry Raymant
Cinematographer: Chris Westlund
Production Designer: Bobbi Rich
Editor: Ting Poo
Music by Eric D. Johnson
Visual Effects: Casey Price
Mixer/Sound Design: Cindy Takehara
Digital Colorist: Daniel Stonehouse

GFX Design: Ricardo Bojorquez
GFX Animation: Scott Hanson
Poster Design: Jason Look
Art Assistant: Victoria Posh
First Assistant Camera: Devon McKinney
Production Sound Mixer/Boom Operator: Kevin Chung Lee Cheng
Electric: Saige Kristian
Production Assistant: Riley Donahue

A Counterpart Pictures production
In association with Keeper Content

Filmmakers would like to thank:
Juzo Yoshida, Andy Baldwin, Michael Barnett,
Meg Doyle, Seth Gregory, Alex Kohnstamm,
Tanaz Sassooni, Freestyle Filmworks,
Shipping + Handling, Crayon, Cartel

Special Thanks: Jen Adam, Sarah Haber, Lauren Malizia,
Patrick Muhlberger, Tim White, Elisha Yaffe,
Bryan Fulk, Najeeb Tarazi, Adam Willis

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

Prague-based directors Jan Svejkar and Jakub Svejkar share a charming little ode to their grandfather Vaclav “Buba” Cihak, a 77 year-old czechoslovak motorcycle racer:

“First starting on the motocross circuits, he moved to the off-road motorcycle competitions. He attended the legendary International Six Days Enduro race. Often called the Motorcycle Olympic Games, this event has been held continuously since 1913, apart from interruptions due to two world wars. Over the decades, it has attracted numerous famous racers – including Malcolm Smith or the “king of cool” Steve McQueen.”

Directed by Jan Svejkar & Jakub Svejkar
Production: Stink Prague
Co-Production: Cinq / Robert Roszbeck
Producer: Veronika Jelsikova
DOP: Filip Marek
Art Director: Stella Sonkova
AD: Janek Palovsky
Production: Krystof Zelenka, Adam Rygl
Sound: Samuel Jurkovic
Grading and post: PFX
Gaffer: Tomas Volter, Jiri Vrana
1AC: Jan Hofman
Photo: Jakub Dohnalek
Russian Arm Operator: David Tolar
Russian Arm Head Operator: Michal Bouska

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

A young Nigerian ping-pong talent takes on her main contender in this richly layered narrative video for production duo Taiwo Hassan and Kehinde Hassan aka Christian Rich. Written and directed by Axel Byrfors of Pantera&Co, “Everything Looks Bigger Closer,” follows the rise of Yinka and her rivalry with Dele. But rather than success or fame, Yinka’s main motivation for playing is getting close to Dele’s pet Iguana.

Created by Taiwo Hassan & Kehinde Hassan
Executive Produced by Taiwo Hassan & Kehinde Hassan
Written & Directed by Axel Byrfors
Produced by EDDY
Co-Produced by Pantera&Co (ARG) & Blur (SPA)
Executive Producers: Corry Van Rhijn (Eddy), Benjamin Benhamou (Eddy) , Manuel Aguer (Pantera&Co), Mario Fornies (Blur)
Casting by Marie Gervais
1st Assistant Director: Alexis de La Mure
2nd Assistant Director: Paul Schoendoerffer
Choreographer: Dalila Belaza
DOP: Alexandra de Saint Blanquat
1st Camera Operator Assistant: Lucas Palen
2nd Camera Operator Assistant: Erwan Dean
Sound Engineer: Ben Silvestre
Key Light : Georges Harnack
Electricians: Raphael Auger, Colin Lefebvre, Chloé Bouhon, Tristan Deboise
Key Grip: Rémi Bouges
Grips: Mahorie Haberkorn,, Fabien Jargeais
Location Manager: Sebastien Barbedette
Assistant Location Managers: Samuel Malnati, Maxime Lefevre
Production Assistant: Alexis Vaz
Set Designer Master: Adrien Ernandez
1st Set Designer Assistant: Alexis Pont
2nd Set Designer Assistants: Mélody Desb, Théo Wolf
Costume Master: Clara Grelie
Wardrobe Keeper: Leslie Laville, Romy Dambrin
Make Up Master: Aiko Sato
Make Up: Yasuko Sudo
Animal Trainer: José Cabreira
Trainer Assistant: Guennan Couq
Post Production: Everest
Post Producer: Sylvain Obriot & Ronan Rigoussen
Editor: Tianès Montasser
Color Grading: Fanny Mazoyer
Special Effects: Blur Films & Metropolitana
Post Producer: Marisa Mesonero
Post Producer: Verónica Diez

Special Thanks: Beats By Dre, Locavi, Mercedes-Benz,
Enda Gallery, Lacoste, Adidas, Vantage, Cinenter,
Next Shot, Emit, Logifilm, Caroline Goudard-Jesquin,
Antigallerie, 20 000 lieux

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

A brilliant take on time travel by Los Angeles-born, Stockholm-based filmmaker David Matthew Olson. “Dirty Machines” follows a young man on a special audio guided tour of a key moment in history.

Featuring:
David Matthew Olson
Dominic “Tiny” Jackson
Bone Chomsky
Rewas Ahmad Banixelani
Linda Karlsson
Jacob Arwidsson
Tatiana Moreno
Wanda Kruuse Af Verchou
Vanessa Fuentes
Josefine Mellgren
Thomas Vickers
Per Hasselström
Anders Häger Jönson
Såma Kader
Alexandra Marie Franco
Milad Zare
Alex Mutegeki
Mori Flannery

Written, Directed, & Produced by David Matthew Olson
Director of Photography: Chris Darnell
1st Assistant Camera: Jesper Wahlqvist
2nd Assistant Camera : Per Hasselström
Line Producer: Anders Häger Jönson
Gaffer: Jerker Berglin
Best Boy: Savvas Keleshis
2nd Unit: Lionel Cabrera, Alex Eneroth
Production Assistants: Harold Osorio, Dominic “Tiny” Jackson,
Såma Kader, Thomas Vickers, Alex Mutegeki,
Milad Zare, Wille Häger
Editor: David Matthew Olson
Colorist: Sander van Wijk
Sound Mixer: Jorge Olivares Rivas
Music Supervisor: Harold Osorio
Costume Designer: Therese Grahn
Set Designer: Tobias Allanson
Graphic Artist: Thomas Vickers

This video was submitted by David Matthew Olson and selected by our team. Consider participating here if you have a project you’d like us to check out!