
Andrew De Zen reunites with Canadian musician Brady Kendall, aka Alaskan Tapes, for their fifth collaboration. Like its predecessors, this is an exercise in pure cinema, a heart-wrenching narrative tied to an environmental theme. De Zen's video for Holocene is a dystopian tale rooted in realism, as a young couple - played by Thomas Nicolson and India Shaw-Smith - must decide if they want to have a child brought into an increasingly broken world, rife with distant fires and an encroaching moon.Mixing engrossing narrative moments with snapshots of a world that is both familiar and alien, it's an arresting visual with standout performances and top-notch direction from the Paris-based Canadian writer-director, and grounded by Alaskan Tapes' original track. Brought to life by production partner BOLDLY in Vancouver, the filming took place over five intense shoot days. The natural elements, like the imposing moon and wildfires, were created in partnership with Copenhagen post house, Chemistry VFX."For unknown reasons I deeply love merging something that is more surreal or conceptual, often mysterious, with a raw emotional energy, what ends up being very human and vulnerable to communicate," explains De Zen. "There are a few images in this film that have been burnt into my brain for years now and it’s a desperate attempt to bring those to life, surrounded by - what I hope are - real feeling relationships."And for years now, Brady and myself have been able to keep pouring our hearts out into these short films that feel like significant chapters in my life now. It is a rare kind of privilege to have this sustained level of trust with a collaborator like him."It’s also another beautiful, rare thing to have the trust of such talented collaborators in producers Shelby Manton / Boldly and Adam Maruniak who went into the trenches with me. Cole Graham’s cinematography here is some of my favourite of his work. And the subtle details of Chemistry’s work in the obvious and not-so-obvious was something to marvel at as we finished this film. I’m grateful to everyone who worked on this!"
Rob Ulitski - 2 hours ago

