My Chemical Romance have shared a new short film in collaboration with visual artist Lauren Tsai. Prelude to the End features vocal contributions from Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers, Hideo Kojima, and John C. McGinley. Check it out below.
The short film arrives in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the band’s landmark album The Black Parade. It follows Astrid, a student at a New England boarding school who enters an uncanny world of forgotten ideas after her beloved sketchbook is thrown in the garbage. Bridgers voices Astrid’s sister, while Eilish portrays Astrid’s close friend. The film features a live recording of Flying River, Violin Concerto by Pascal Dusapin, performed by Utopia Orchestra at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and conducted by Giuseppe Mengoli.
Prelude to the End finds Tsai, who previously directed the visuals for boygenius’ ‘Cool About It’, combining imagery from her short film The Dying World with the opening track from The Black Parade, ‘The End’. “It was an absolute dream to work on this project for The Black Parade and The Dying World,” Tsai said in a statement. “I deeply respect MCR and Gerard’s creative legacy. It has been an honor for him to find inspiration in a world that I’ve created, in the same way I have always admired the worlds that he has built throughout his career.”
The band will screen the film at the Hollywood Bowl on October 30 and 31, which mark the final two nights of their five-night residency at the Los Angeles venue.
