Production Company

HENRY

HENRY has announced the arrival of&nbsp;French film and stage director Jonathan Steuer to its roster, for commercial representation&nbsp;across France and Europe.Working at the intersection of film, dance, music and fashion, Jonathan Steuer has developed a distinctive approach to movement and performance, collaborating with artists including Yseult, Yamê and Pierre de Maere, as well as brands such as Courrèges, Dior, Apple Music and Canal+ .From an early start shooting experimental dance films on the streets of Paris; to movement led commissions with the likes of Les Twins, Marvin Gofin, and Lil Buck; Steuer brings a deep and instinctual understanding of performance to all his work, regardless of media. Inspired by magical realism, bodies in space and the power of collective, he has directed music videos for Pierre de Maere, Yamê, Eva, Yseult; and his commercial work includes films for Courrèges, Dior, Vaillant but also Red Bull, Canal+, Apple Music et OpenAI.Jonathan Steuer's arrival at HENRY further expands the studio’s roster of filmmakers working across commercials, music videos and branded content, and continuing to collaborate with creative talent shaping contemporary visual culture in France and beyond.• Watch&nbsp;Jonathan Steuer's showreel at HENRY&nbsp;<a href="https://wdrv.it/f743fb076" target="_blank">here</a>

HENRY welcomes director Jonathan Steuer

French directing trio Bleu Désert direct an engrossing concept-based promo for rap artist Lesram, who travels to different locations, courtesy of the elevator in a housing project.&nbsp;Shot between Marseille, Montpellier, and the Camargue, the video for Takita takes the form of a minimalist road movie, contained within a single set. Using motion control, the camera repeats the same circular movement, creating an almost hypnotic rhythm that mirrors the cycle of everyday life.When the door opens to the elevator, a new landscape appears: sea, forest, desert, field. Yet Lesram remains still, caught between motion and stillness. And around him in the lift, life goes on: children play, a graffiti artist tags a wall, a neighbour carries her groceries upstairs. Takita unfolds in this in-between space, suspended between the reality of the neighbourhood and the dream of elsewhere. &nbsp;Boasting a gently haunting atmosphere and an introspective vibe throughout, it's a powerful visual, blurring&nbsp;the line between control and surrender. It's an effortlessly singular vision, and a must watch..&nbsp;“‘J’tourne en rond comme mon lexique’ — our camera, stuck in an elevator, stands as the symbol of that," says&nbsp;Bleu Désert.&nbsp;"Landscapes pass by through the metallic doors that open and close as life in the building goes on. Stuck, dreaming of somewhere else.”[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;

France

Bleu Desert

Lesram 'Takita' by Bleu Désert

LESRAM - TAKITA

Director duo King She create a brilliantly imaginative promo for&nbsp;French-Cameroonian artist Yamê.The visually striking promo for Shoot draws from&nbsp;a&nbsp;pivotal fall in Yamê’s childhood, which&nbsp;shaped both his distinctive jawline and teeth.&nbsp;King She developed the narrative around the theme of falling, using it as a metaphor for self-discovery - and the concept was&nbsp;rooted not only in Yamê’s experience but also in a similar event from the director’s own past.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]Opening with young Yamê falling and breaking open - revealing a giant stone version of himself filled with an Escher-like inner world. Inside, countless versions of Yamê wander through surreal corridors and shifting rooms, each encounter representing different incarnations of his struggles.Yamê wanted the video to feel like a video game - each scene unlocking a new level of his consciousness. The motorcycle chase, for instance, plays like an action sequence from a psychological game, while other sections mirror 'boss fights'&nbsp;with darker parts of the self.[imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;This structure gives the film a pulsing energy and dreamlike progression, allowing for a distinct visual language in every scene.&nbsp;Filmed at Villa Arson, a fine arts school in Nice, the video uses the geometric austerity of brutalist architecture to evoke authenticity and material honesty.Yamê’s Cameroonian heritage also plays a key role in the visual storytelling. After showing King She the spiral architecture of traditional villages in his ancestral homeland—structures that echo early conceptions of the galaxy—the filmmakers integrated this motif throughout the video. It all culminates in a final shot that honors African cosmology and architectural traditions.[imgtoken data:3]To portray Yamê’s journey through a shifting, Escher-like mental maze, the filmmakers combined in-camera effects, practical set builds, and a range of post-production techniques—including keyframe scaling, 2D animation, CGI, and AI-generated imagery.&nbsp;Key VFX partner MONUMENTAL FX provided standout CGI and set extension work, bringing to life the surreal architecture of Yamê’s internal world. During production, the team 3D-scanned Yamê which enabled the creation of the giant stone figure featured in the video’s opening.[imgtoken data:4]Every visual choice was designed to render emotional conflict as external chaos and immersive art. The end result is a rich, cinematic journey through the complex architecture of the self. Outstanding work.&nbsp;

King She

Somesuch

Yamê 'Shoot' by King She

Yamê  | "SHOOT" music video

Directing collective Ataka51 have created a&nbsp;short musical film featuring the artist Izzy Spears which is&nbsp;a remarkable&nbsp;tour de force of imaginative VFX-powered fantasy.Storms devour buildings and ancient skeletons, dolls come to life and fall apart, and a city is filled with living mannequins in Burn, a piece that acts as a eclectic showcase of the vision and VFX skills of the Paris-based trio - who <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/04/09/reeve-wax-you-ataka51/85998" target="_blank">melted singer Reeve before our eyes in the Melt On You&nbsp;promo</a> last year.[imgtoken data:1]Created in collaboration with Georgia Pendlebury, Florence Tétier, and the Jean Paul Gaultier archive collection, the directors - Dimitri Gorbaty, Sergei Medvedev and Alexander Epikhov - invite the viewer into a world of wonder, and it is a spectacular achievement.Demonstrating technical mastery in CGI puppeteering, the result was achieved with the use of miniatures, analog film photography and groundbreaking 3D rendering.[imgtoken data:2]"[The video] is inspired by The Wizard of Oz, and together with Izzy Spears’ romantic lyrics, we ask the question: what is fake and what is real [and] does it matter?" explain Ataka51."We envisioned our own magical realm - a contemporary kitsch universe of pink posters, white teeth, and fake furniture, where beauty and reality blur in an enchanting and unsettling Neverland."

Ataka51

Izzy Spears ft Leya 'Burn' by Ataka51

Izzy-Spears-Ft-Leya-'Burn'-by-Ataka51

Jim Longden reunites with French indie outfit Oracle Sisters for another hugely entertaining&nbsp;promo.&nbsp;Following their collaboration on the UKMVA-nominated <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/11/11/oracle-sisters-alouette-jim-longden/88947">Alouette&nbsp;</a>visual, the video for Blue Left Hand is another wacky and playful deconstruction of the world of filmmaking, but here set in a studio, where Longden and the band can expand on some of these ideas, with a bigger cast of characters.&nbsp;Inspired by the book&nbsp;Caliban and the Witch,&nbsp;the lyrics weave&nbsp;together a&nbsp;tapestry of history, philosophy and cultural critique, and the video taps into these themes to great effect.&nbsp;Toeing the line between arthouse aesthetics and something more haunting and unusual, the video is a lot of fun, and entirely shot on film, giving it a lovely nostalgic vibe.&nbsp;“Making a music video can sometimes be as torturous as trying to make Brando happy while he spits in your coffee," muses Jim Longden.&nbsp;"But when the music, the crew and the artist are great, and they make it a priority to shoot on film, the spit can end up looking a little like milk froth.”&nbsp;<blockquote>&nbsp;</blockquote>

Jim Longden

Indie

Alternative

Oracle Sisters 'Blue Left Hand' by Jim Longden

Oracle-Sisters-'Blue-Left-Hand'-by-Jim-Longden

Jim Longden directs a lovely one-shot video&nbsp;for French indie band Oracle Sisters - shortlisted at this year's UK Music Video Awards - in which actor Charlie Rowe gives a virtuoso performance. Performances, in fact.The jumping off point for Rowe's tour de force in the promo for Alouette is a meta moment when he gets a call from his agent to be told that the director has chosen someone else, who's&nbsp;'more wild', to appear in their music video. In his fury and disappointment, he is driven to show exactly what the video director will be missing.So he proceeds to go into character as a an old, quickly changing to become a Mafioso gangster, and then changing again and again, switching clothes, using conveniently placed&nbsp;props to aid his portrayals&nbsp;- and also playing with cardboard cutouts of the band - whilst manically advancing across a West London park.&nbsp;The strength of the idea, and Rowe's&nbsp;performance is underlined by the execution in a single Steadicam shot and the setting. As the pace between the actor's character-switches, and the energy becomes increasingly manic, the camerawork gets more frantic, the comedic value increases. And it ends to great&nbsp;pay-off, as its revealed the young director is, well, very young indeed. Excellent work.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

Oracle Sisters 'Alouette' by Jim Longden

Oracle Sisters - Alouette (Official Music Video)

New electro-pop singer-songwriter&nbsp;Reeve. makes a highly memorable impression in Ataka51's darkly arresting&nbsp;promo for Wax On You. She melts before our very eyes.The video opens with the artist sitting on the side of a bathtub, dripping with a mysterious substance. Is she melting? Is it acid? The clue is in the songtitle.As Reeve's wax-like body begins to break down, chunks of flesh disappearing and becoming displaced, the video takes a surreal, body-horror-esque turn. It's transfixing rather than stomach-churning, beautifully haunting in its presentation.&nbsp;This is a striking vision by Ataka51 - the four-person&nbsp;'displaced&nbsp;video/film collective' now based in Paris - which&nbsp;dives into uncanny territory with fearless abandon. A brilliant feat of VFX which also augments a powerful performance from this new artist.&nbsp;It's safe to say that the imagery here will stick&nbsp;in your mind long after watching.&nbsp;&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]

Electronic

Electro-pop

Reeve. 'Wax On You' by Ataka51

Reeve. - Wax on you (Official Video)

Filip Nilsson is back with a characteristically off-the-wall, high-octane adventure for Kavinsky's latest release.&nbsp;Putting a playful twist on the idea of cameos, a large crowd of fearless stunt-people - all dressed as the artist -&nbsp;are seen running amok in an abandoned horse-racing arena.&nbsp;Clashing in a mesmerising display of&nbsp;ultraviolent choreography, we see each character grapple in a fight to the death - with some breathtaking stunts along the way. Oh, and there are lasers aplenty, giving a sci-fi twist to the action-packed concept.&nbsp;Brilliantly brutal and epic, the use of FPV drones and frenetic camerawork adds an extra layer of madness to the project. And that's saying something.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;[imgtoken data:3]