In this short film Alexa Lim Haas, who wrote and directed the film, explores and thoughts and emotions of a Chinese manicurist in Miami who attempts to describe feelings she doesn’t have words for.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2018.
Our first selection for this edition of Sound Selection is by Hideyuki Hashimoto, a Japenese pianist, and composer. In this wonderful piece named Saki, part of an eight-track album, Hashimoto explores nostalgic emotions with touches of melancholy through ear-pleasing dynamics that are created through soft notes and splendid background ambiance that takes this to another dimension.
In Lovely Fiction, talented artist Ivy Sole explores themes of motherhood and relationships that are delivered through euphonious vocals with a fantastic production that will have you hooked from the get-go. If you are looking for something refreshing, this one is for you.
Back in 2016, Vugar Efendi released a stunning montage video that compares the works of the late Stanley Kubrick and the late Andrei Tarkovsky, accompanied by Max Richter’s On the nature of daylight.
Walden, an iconic film of Jonas Mekas, was originally commissioned by Albright–Knox Art Gallery. In this feature-length film, originally titled Diaries, Notes and Sketches, Mekas presents a diary-like film that shows events of Mekas’ life.
Vincent Canby, a legendary film and theatre critic who wrote for The New York Times, wrote that “Mekas has a remarkable gift for making us see, as if for the first time, what we’ve been looking at all our lives.”
Edouard Sepulchre, a French-born photographer, released a terrific series named Looking for America in which Sepulchre explores American iconography.
Writing about the series stated: “Since the 50s, American iconography has nourished our imagination and provided us with a new kind of visual vocabulary. So much so that in photography some everyday objects have become “myths”: the gas station, the old car, the parking lot, the wide-open spaces, the desert, the abandoned town, etc. My first trip to the American West was like a revelation. I found there everything I was interested in photography. Since then I have been searching in the rest of the world in a totally subjective way for this America, just for the pleasure of being there and elsewhere at the same time.”
You can find more work by Edouard Sepulchre here.
John MacLean, a British-born photographer and artist, has released an eye-pleasing series named Outthinking the Rectangle. By utilising rectangles and space MacLean has created a truly fantastic series that brings great aesthetic pleasure.
You can find more work by John MacLean here.
Lavender is a short film written by Matthew Puccini. It focuses on a young gay man who grows increasingly entangled in the marriage of an older couple. The short film is part of the Sundance Film Festival 2019 official selection and South by Southwest 2019 official selection.
Written and Directed by: Matthew Puccini
Featuring: Michael Hsu Rosen, Ken Barnett and Michael Urie
Produced by: Casey Bader, Tyler Rabinowitz and Corey Deckler
Executive Produced by: Sam Abbas, Jason Michael Berman, Natalé Olsen and Sean Weiner
Cinematography by: Brandon Roots
Casting by: Freya Krasnow
Edit by: William C. Sullivan
Production Design by: Katie Fleming
Costume Design by: Rachel Dainer-Best
Select, a large fashion chain, went into administration just a few days ago putting around 1,800 jobs at risk. Currently owned by Cafer Mahiroğlu, a Turkish entrepreneur, the fashion label seemed to go from strength to strength since its buyout in 2008.
However, with various reasons such as the rise of online shopping, expanding competition and rent costs made it hard for the fashion chain to be viable on the high street as margins have been squashed through bad strategies and lack of uniqueness that would make the brand sell and stand out in the long term.
Chains such as Debenhams and The House of Fraser also fell victim to the rapid change in the world of fashion business. Late adapting to the online world, high rent costs and bad management throughout a significant period of time have led many of these chains to fall to the ground, leaving their workers without any security in their jobs.
In a statement, Andrew Andronikou, joint administrator at Quantuma said “We will continue to trade Select whilst we assess all options available to the business, with the aim of achieving the optimum outcome for all stakeholders.
“Options include a sale of the business as a going concern, in addition to entering into discussions with those parties who have already expressed interest in acquiring the business.”
Entering with brilliant energy and catchy lyrics is the vastly-gifted artist Thomas Azier with his song Strangling Song. In his latest piece, Azier delivers a tuneful track with equally vibrant and ear-pleasing vocals that will have you addicted from the get-go. This one is for the playlists.
Coming in with a foot-tapping song from a freshly baked album Infancy Part 1 are The Ninth Wave with This Broken Design. Much like the rest of the album, The Ninth Wave deliver a song full of gleaming production and raw vocals that bring out the authentic sound of the band.
The final song to enter the 60th Sound Selection is by Rui named Cradle. Waving in with a smooth production and mellifluous vocals by Marijn, the exciting Rui delivers a journey of a song that will stay with you for some weeks to come.
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