The Milan-based creativity factory The Blink Fish’s latest fashion film for National Chamber of Italian Fashion (CNMI) is a playful and slightly surreal interpretation of the values of inclusion and diversity championed by CNMI. Niccolo Montanari catches up with Giacomo Boeri from The Blink Fish

Sonia Malfa can’t help but explore her identity through the subjects she portrays on-screen. As a Puerto-American director, a lot of her work harks back to the magical realism passed down through her family and touches on the stories of women and people of colour she’s known and been inspired by. Incorporating her love of nature with her passion for storytelling, Malfa’s pieces are sensually-captivating and incredibly layered with truth and personality.

Love, death and other stories told in cinematic and wonderfully weird ways

Norwegian cinematographer Benjamin Loeb captures that poignant space of early grief when a young friend dies in his stunning short film that quietly breathes with sorrow.

Roll up, Roll up, Roll on through our pick of those videos that make our heart skip a beat

Director Mike Mills cold-called The National band to see if he could do a video for their track Sleep Well Beast but after a conversation with vocalist Matt Berninger a search for something much bigger than a music video began. There was, says Mills “a sense of we can do anything and actually we don’t want to know what we’re doing”.

While trawling through Visionaire’s excellent series of Opera Music Videos featuring works of baroque master G. F. Handel and minimalist 20/21st century composer Philip Glass one thing led to another as it usually does and we discovered along the way director Daniel Askill’s short film Universal Machine also set to Glass’s music. We share with you this feast of joy...

Mohammad Gorjestani subconsciously seeks out stories similar to his own; searching for subjects that have overcome adversity against all odds. As an Iranian-American director, he fears cultural oppression in the States but uses this as fuel to rewrite his story and connect with others who have risen resiliently. Having lived through change and hardship, creating space and relating to his subjects is key – and it’s no wonder that it comes so naturally to him.

Few are able to combine travel with work. Yet New York-based director Janssen Powers has seemingly found a way to incorporate his love for adventure into his filmic career. But he’s conscious about balancing his learnings with profiling the subjects he features. For him, remaining humble and connecting over truth is key to creating ripe creative conditions.

Sophie Ebrard's latest photography show explores the uncomfortable side to becoming a mother. Now she has turned her exhibition into a moving piece of work with a film co-directed with Ruben Peeters

New York directing duo rubberband debuts their signing with Smuggler with a multi-layered cracker for Glass Animals latest track, Tokyo Drifting.

We talk with filmmaker Phoebe Arnstein about capturing those unique and poignant moments of other people’s lives in her perfectly crafted documentary on bathing rituals for cosmetics brand Lush.

The Porsche Awards honour top of the class film students and graduates with a helping hand to invest in their next film

The short film is a notoriously hard format to nail - challenged by time, frequently self-funded and at constant risk of sliding into self-indulgence. Which is why amongst the many short films we’re sent at 1.4 the cream always rises to the top. Director Tom Noake’s latest short Nursery Rhymes (in partnership with writer Will Goodfellow) deals a visceral blow with an elegant one-take shot and an unsettling delivery of Old MacDonald had a farm. No spoilers, just watch it. As a stand out entry to this years’ 1.4 awards we spoke with Tom about the project and its origins.

1.4 catches up with the British multi-talented artist in New York on her “multi-media approach spanning animation, live action, creative direction, fashion design and interactive to make highly original work that embraces the chaos, imperfection and energy of our lives”.

Just three films into his transition from Steadicam Op to Director, Loïc Andrieu has already established a clear artistic vision of the world he wants to explore. Rife with dark symbolism, stylistic depictions of the subconscious mind and teeming with ritualistic explorations of the eschatological, his work is compelling and unsettling in equal measures. 1.4 had the pleasure of delving into the depths of Loic’s creative mind to explore the meaning behind his powerful imagery.

Johannesburg-based Nare Mokgotho has a sharp eye for comic timing. Emily d'Silva catches up with the creative-turned-new director

Visual trickster and master of wonder Grégory Ohrel has crafted a distinctive live action style that bends the rules of perception to beguiling effect. While commercial spots for Samsung, Seat and Strongbow have catapulted his music video aesthetic into the mainstream, his style and substance remain anything but. His work blends technique with creative vision to craft a unique perspective that is both playful and ripe for interpretation. We jumped down the rabbit hole to catch up with Gregory and find out more about his incredible wonderland.

Chances are you already know Hannah Lux Davis. You may not think you do, but trust us when we say, you do. For just over a decade the relentless LA native has ascended the ranks of the pop music elite, crafting video after video for everyone from Halsey to Fifth Harmony, Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj, Rita Ora, Bebe Rexha, Demi Lovato and Anne-Marie… It’s fair to say that in parallel to crafting the visual identities of a significant clique of leading pop artists, Lux Davis has also managed to create space for her own phenomenal talent as an artist to shine

The powerfully poetic films of Iggy LDN bravely explore issues of masculinity, intersectionality and parenthood through a specifically Gen Y lens. There’s an unfiltered optimism that belies the often sombering subject matter under the microscope in Iggy’s work, a drive towards self-definition, new ways of association and an almost unfettered sense of possibility in the power of action. From his music videos for JNR Williams to short films Velvet, Black Boys Don’t Cry and Fatherhood, Iggy’s multifaceted creativity as a writer, actor and director radiates in all directions and demands to be heard. 1.4 spoke with the Iconoclast polymath to find out more...

Zoe McIntosh’s film, The World in Your Window, has picked up a goldmine in awards from international festivals. It’s a very powerful visual narrative driven by beautifully framed sweeps interspersed with intimate close-ups. We love it. We’ve watched it often. And cry a little every time. Now the New Zealand director, always one to explore interesting characters, has released her latest short documentary My Breakup With God.

Across her short films and commercial work, director Elle Ginter has built a style that balances visual precision and sharp narrative efficiency to emotionally resonant effect. Playing with memories, internal monologues and life changing moments of self-realisation, Elle’s films are deeply personal yet profoundly human at the same time. In her spots for Nike and Comcast she shines a spotlight on important moments of social change that break stereotypes and invite us to rethink assumptions about female identity. Alongside this she has explored themes of mental health and the determination of one individual to bring former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré to justice. 1.4 spoke with Elle to find out more.

Lily Rose Thomas delves deeply into the psyche of three very typical and normal characters who drink too much.

Multidisciplinary creative studio DE-YAN, fronted by Dejan Jovanovic, crafts elegant artistic visions across design, branding, architecture, events and visuals. Their credits include breathtaking work for luxury brands Dior and Omega, and tech monoliths such as Google and Samsung. It’s their latest music video work for the ever-exemplary Brooke Candy that caught our attention, however, so we slid into their IG DM’s and got chatting with Dejan about the art and craft behind the studio’s stunning output.

Here's your start to the week dose of sex, drugs, punch-ups and laughs - all fabulously produced and shot of course

Directing duo Bradley and Pablo cut their teeth in the UK working on promos for pop music collective PC Music and Charli XCX, crafting a unique new vision of hyper-real, critically self-aware music videos that referenced and reinterpreted the icons of the 90s – from TLC though Britney Spears – and shooting Dua Lipa for Pepsi. But don’t let that fool you into thinking their style and references are only skin deep. Since making the jump to LA to sign with Prettybird they’ve gone on to experiment across formats and genres, shooting the Porn Hub awards creative directed by Kanye West, directing Motorsport for Migos feat. Cardi B and Nicki Minaj and cementing ongoing collaborations with Charli XCX and Dua Lipa, all the while adding Mark Ronson and Camilla Cabelo to their reel. 1.4 caught up with the guys across the interweb to find out more about pop’s exciting new look.

From the mega stars to fresh out of school directors, our roundup of the quirky and magnificent

CANADA director Roger Guàrdia elevates seemingly straightforward briefs – a girl goes round and round on a motorbike; a band plays in a studio; sports brands pace the tarmac – into mesmerising visual feats of technical wizardry.   He’s pretty damn good at writing his own narratives too.

Jo Motoyo, fluent in Japanese, English and Chinese, claims she was brought up in a preposterously ordinary family in Japan. Healthy parents, brother, sister and a dog with an ordinary name too. I have come to think that there’s more value in being normal than in being special, she says. Especially on social media people are so desperate to be special, but I want to say that there is value and attractiveness in being just the way you are. It’s this sensibility, which Jo Motoyo captures in her YDA / Adfest winning film, Midnight, about an emergency call operator who receives an unnerving cry for help from a young girl.

After such intense collaborative long-term relationships with artists such as Sevdaliza – and we’re talking about a run up of films before the gob-smackingly cinematic and justifiably celebrated Shahamaran  – Emmanuel Adjei then signed up to make two films with Madonna. Wham. Bang.  Just like that. The first is brilliantly epic and huge in its message: Madonna’s consistent theme of the repression of the Catholic church played out with Mykki Blanco as  Joan of Arc. It’s faultless in its multi layers of visual narrative. And then joy oh joy, the second film, this time for  Madonna’s track Batuka is simply a beautifully uplifting, uncomplicated celebration of women and their love of music and faith to their own spirit.

Dani Pearce’s unique visual eye and sharp mind for narrative nuances had us hooked with her short film, Backpedal. We catch up with the Australian filmmaker about her creative process and how she probably inherited her parents’ insatiable spirit of inquiry by a childhood spent living in a new country every two years