Kôji Wakamatsu has passed away this morning in Tokyo. The 76-year-old director was injured when he was struck by a taxi while crossing a busy Tokyo intersection. He never recovered from the injuries. Koji, who directed Go, Go Second Time Virgin and Ecstasy of Angels was one of the most important directors of the Pinky film (pink eiga), a genre known for its copious amounts of horror, sex and violence often folding in elements of rape and bondage.
South London pop duo and real life brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, otherwise known as Disclosure, release the music for their track Latch featuring Sam Smith. The music video, directed by Ross McDowell & Ben Murray of the Bullion Collective is a surreal portrait of lip locking and love in the 21st century.
Incorporating film, literature, data visualizations and sound design, artist Douglas Aitken's Altered Earth invites the user to piece together fragments of the landscape of the region of Camargue France. The site-specific work has been developed into an application for the iPad by Meri Media.The films themselves, of which there are seven, are devoid of narrative or plot, showing Carmague's salt pans, wild horses, and decaying architecture. The LUMA Foundation, which commissioned the work, calls it "a work of land art for the electronic era." Altered Earth will be on view this month projected on the walls of an old train station in Arles, France.
Music video for Swedish popstress El Perro Del Mar's track Walk On By, taken from the album Pale Fire, available through The Control Group, on 12th of November 2012.
For each day of London Fashion Week, to present their Spring Summer 2013 collection, our favorite UK label Fanny & Jessy released 5 films (seen together above), directed by the talented Danny Sangra, "inspired by magnified terrain and shot in the depths of a Somerset barn, we venture into a realm of the super natural."
San Diego Surf was filmed in La Jolla, California, about 30 miles down the coast from Los Angeles, in May, 1968. It was filmed in color on 16mm with two cameras, manned by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, and featured Superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, Joe Dallesandro, Tom Hompertz, Ingrid Superstar, and Eric Emerson, plus Nawana Davis and others. Its loose narrative concerns an unhappily married couple (Taylor Mead and Viva) with a baby who rent their beach house to a group of surfers. One of the last films in which Warhol had direct involvement, San Diego Surf was the first time Warhol had made a movie in California since the early Tarzan and Jane Regained, Sort of…in 1963. The month after San Diego Surf filming was completed, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas, which virtually ended his work behind the movie camera. The film is being released by The Andy Warhol Museum, who holds all the copyrights to this film which has never before been publicly shown. The film will be shown publicly at The Museum of Modern Art from January 23 - 28, 2013.
Fashion film for Portugese designer Diana Matias' Autumn/Winter 2012/13 collection entitled V, directed by video artist Pedro Maia who has worked with the likes Panda Bear and Joy Orbison – this is his first fashion film in collaboration with RGB/XYZStudios. See film after the jump.
Collaboration between Carlos Nunez & Jeremy Eichenbaum.
Adarsha Benjamin directs the music video for Woods' track Cali In A Cup. A true anthem to California – both the song and the video – shot in in grainy throwback 8mm glory the video follows Woods on a tour up and down the California Coast.
Elektra and Miranda, Swedish twins who are based in Australia and make up the duo Saint Lou Lou, release their music video for the track Maybe You directed by Phillip Tempelman.
Gagosian Gallery presents The End of Civilisation, a major film installation by Douglas Gordon.In The End of Civilisation, a grand piano burns at a remote site deep in the Cumbrian landscape. This lushly green and desolate locale overlooking the boundary between England and Scotland was once the border of the Roman Empire. The grand piano, emblematic of high culture as both a finely crafted instrument and a beautiful sculptural object, is destroyed at the primeval edge of civilization. With this symbolic conflagration, Gordon re-enacts an ancient local tradition of igniting beacons as an admonition or communication. Inspired in part by the journey of the 2012 Olympic torch across the British Isles, The End of Civilisation is both a celebration and a warning—of fire as a symbol of optimism and hope, but also of risk, danger, and destruction. The End of Civilisation is on view from September 8 to October 13, 2012, Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21st Street, New York, NY
Watch Charlotte Free get chased by ghosts while riding a magic rainbow unicorn in this psychedelic fashion film for Argentine brand Complot'sSpring/Summer 2013 collection.
Starring the likes of Henry Hopper, Nina Ljeti, Ericka Clevenger, Avalon Ainsley, Clark Phillips, Alex Levine this trailer is sneak peak at a 16mm feature film by Adarsha Benjamin that explores the life of Kurt Cobain. Currently titled Kurt, watch the cast of characters take on Cobain's characteristic angst and melancholy that culminates with Henry Hopper destroying an old electric organ.
Filmmaker/guitarist Jim Jarmusch and composer Van Wissem released the album, Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity, this past February and they've now they have announced their second album of the year entitled The Mystery of Heaven, due out on November 13 via Sacred Bones. After the jump see the music video for the track The Sun of the Natural World is Pure Fire directed by Diego Barrera that references references mythology, the elements, and symbolism.
Lanvin's amazing Fall/Winter 2012 campaign celebrates individuals with individuality. "Reality... not reality stars." Directed by Steven Meisel.
William Strobeck's short film featuring Chloë Sevigny and some of her favorite things. Set to the haunting track Fly the Sky by Colony Farm, the film captures Chloë in her element—wearing pieces from the CHLOË SEVIGNY FOR OPENING CEREMONY archive collection.
Sneak peak of a super eight still of a music video for the band Woods directed by Adarsha Benjamin, shot along the coast of California.
Rita Lino directs this music video for Copenhagen band Reptile Youth's track Black Swan Born White remixed by Keep Shelly in Athens which is one of 5 remixes including the original. Reptile Youth is set to release their debut self titled album this September on HFN.
Controversial film director (pictured above with his Fuck tattoo) is challenging artists around the world "to reinterpret six great works of art through the lens of their camera or recording of sound." The project, entitled Gesamt (which comes from the German word for whole or cumulative) is supported by Danish Agency for Culture and has a set of strict rules to abide by as stated on the official Gesamt website. Works of art include Irish writer James Joyce's Ulysses and rat pack member Sammy Davis Jr's Choreography.
Another music video from Icelandic band Sigur Rós' "valtari mystery film experiment" where different up and coming directors are commissioned to create music videos for tracks off their current album Valtari. Above, directed by Chicago based director Melika Bass for the track Varðeldur.