Michael LeBlanc's first effort as a standalone director following the end of his directing partnership with Scott Cudmore came out a few months ago. Shot in Romania, with camerawork by LeBlanc himself, it's a story of a young villager with very special powers.

With great casting and beautifully shot, this is a brilliant accompaniment to the driving alt-rock of Holy Fuck's Tom Tom - it really does weave a spell over the viewer. That was recognised at this year's UK Music Video Awards: the video won Best Alternative Video in the Newcomer section, and garnered LeBlanc a nomination for Best Cinematography In A Video.   

MICHAEL LEBLANC:

"I decided to shoot the video in Romania so we could cast authentic people in a unfamiliar setting. I wanted to shoot most of the scenes when the sky was just about to fade and use as much natural light as possible. This helped with the surreal style I was trying to create. We did end up using a few lights and a homemade dolly we built in Romania with wheels I ordered from the US.

"I was lucky to have my Romanian friend Miruna Soiu who helped produce/translate and her husband Ian Mcgettigan, who's one of my best friends who helped with all things including being the dolly grip and doing most of the driving. We found our two main characters and now friends Marius Staicu senior and his son Marius. They were perfect in every way. Casting was really fun as we just walked around Zarnesti and asked people if they'd like to be in a music video. We shot most of the video in Sirnia a small village near Brasov where both Ian and Miruna had once stayed."