Jesse Lewis-Reece talks to 1.4 about his explosion of visual ideas when he first heard Neil Hilborn’s poem OCD resulting in this heart-breaking film of love, obsession and loss that unanimously won over the judges at the Young Director Awards. Eyelash was jointly awarded the Jury Special Prize along with Jeremy Merrifield’s film, Balloon.

A collection of lockdown filmmaking made during recent tough times

The filmmaker and the musician-turned-director bounce the talk around what lies behind their enduring artistic collaboration of beautiful, surreal, mythical films

A CGI and animated fest of musical and visual fusion

Making the world a better place

Whether they’re exploring the human body through thermal imaging or imagining film as a musical instrument, directors in/out seems to hover on the threshold between the familiar and the uncanny, to riveting effect. Combining boundary-pushing in-camera work with a genuine love for the medium of music video, the cerebral duo tell 1.4 how they interpreted the brief of ‘hyper-musicality’ for their latest promo and why “doing things for real” is always rewarded.

As lockdown lifts and we contemplate a return to the daily grind, lunch al desko and a soul-sapping commute, this stunning new promo highlights just how alien and absurd the office environment has become. Breathing new life into stock footage with expert CGI, Smuggler directors StyleWar talk us through their chaotic take on corporate culture

Magnetic, powerful and mesmerising are words that come to mind when watching Rohan Blair-Mangat’s take on modern day story telling - a blend of documentary-style, short film and music video. The director, who was one of the filmmakers behind the recent Change The Lens pledge talks to 1.4 about his influences and his compelling work with artists including Wretch 32, Jay Z, Nas and most recently visual artist Maurice Harris. 

Experimental, daring and playful, Partizan director Ali Kurr has literally learned her craft on the job, eschewing a formal film school education and throwing herself into the deep end of filmmaking. Whether it’s adding a gritty twist to Sport England’s This Girl Can series or confronting casual racism and rampant consumerism with a hefty dollop of kitsch for pop-rock star Rina Sawayama, every job is met with a joyously can-do attitude, a magpie-like attraction to new and shiny sources of inspiration and a determination to educate herself. Constantly searching for new challenges, she found herself at the bottom of a very steep learning curve with her latest project – a porn film about a performer who can’t conventionally perform – but couldn’t be prouder of the final result, she tells 1.4

As lockdown lifts and we emerge, blinking like cave-dwellers, into the outside world, this feels like a time for taking stock. While the death tolls from Covid-19 make for grim reading, the truth is that this pandemic has ravaged minds as well as bodies, with many left mentally scarred by their time in isolation. Yet it’s the generation of young people whose education, career plans and social lives have been put on hold, indefinitely, who have borne the brunt – and will continue to suffer the ripple effects long after ‘normal’ life has resumed. In this lyrical short film, conceived and shot during lockdown, director Sadie Frost captures the invisible toll of isolation on mental wellbeing, while sounding a positive note for the future. She tells 1.4 about having a muse in the family, and why grief is a process everyone has to get through

Andzej Gavriss’ short film Malaria is a metaphor showing how quickly and unexpectedly one small event can be catastrophic. We asked the director to share his notebook on how the film and the resulting campaign to help homelessness in LA came about

Released amidst the groundswell of anti-racism protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, Sitting in Limbo couldn’t be more timely. Highlighting the Windrush scandal through the ordeal of one man, it’s a gripping and emotional watch that will move you first to tears, then rage. Director Stella Corradi keeps a tender hand on the tiller while navigating the harrowing journey. She tells 1.4 about her deep responsibility to tell the story, and how drama has the power to instigate real change

They’re still students and they’re brilliant. Just take a look at musician Rodney Chrome and filmmaker Zachary Dov Wiesel’s videos that explore the experience of growing up as a queer black man in America. Crafted on a shoestring with heaps of collaborative imagination. We like a lot. Here, we catch up with the New York-based Australian director

We take a look at The Great Reset, a movement born out of a collaboration of over 200 people from competing agencies, in an effort to capture and promote the positive behaviours and environmental shifts created during the UK lockdown.

"From mid March 2020 most agencies enforced a freelance freeze. This proved to be one of the most productive periods of my career,” says Mathew Jerrett who normally would be writing fiction for commercials. Now he’s behind three projects reflecting the very real events on the streets of New York. Here he tells us about his latest film, Fuck I Love New York, directed by Joaquin & Lalou

Colin Read’s work is more about exceptionally-crafted ingenious ideas than big flash budgets, and looking at the credits lists you can see that he does most of the crafting himself. He so often writes, directs, edits and creates special effects himself – from his earlier skateboarding films to the more complex recent music videos. We talk with Colin about directing Dave Bayley of Glass Animals in London while in quarantine in Florida and how he has evolved his techniques to always serve the core idea

No surprises that VFX and Creative Production Studio The Mill’s Rauri Cantelo is steeped in technical wizardry. Using i-phones and drones and quite a bit of artistic imagination the new director has created these two music videos for pop queens Foxes and Ella Henderson

Prettybird director Jess Kohl recuts her earlier Nowness documentary about the transgender community of India into a charity film to support them during the Covid crisis

Director Stevie Russell’s homegrown solution for Kodaline’s latest music video

From sanguine bulls to singing yams, Blink director Nick Ball can spot a seam of comedy in a script and mine it for every laugh going. His latest spot for MoneySuperMarket joins a host of blockbuster, big budget ads for the likes of Barclaycard, Foxtel and Aami, but shrink the action down to a close shave in a shower cubicle and he’ll still have ‘em rolling in the aisles. From the confines of quarantine in a Sydney hotel room, he tells 1.4 about struggling with the concept that comedy should look “funny” and why, when the laughter stops, he’ll be crying on the bathroom floor surrounded by Twinkies

We talk with Jeremy Goold, founder and EP of London-based You Are Here, about creating this cinematic film shot by seven of the production company’s directors in seven different countries during global lockdown

We have become so used to seeing mobile phone footage posted to social media and network news reporting of the BLM protests, that Julian Marshall's film, WE ARE GEORGE FLOYD, stands out as an extraordinarily crafted documentary that speaks to us on another level.  

CANADA director Rogelio González makes the most of his time in quarantine with an introspective journey into his own psyche and vivid dreams. The relationship between the director and his lockdown partner, Dichas, – from reading together to tripping together – forms the basis of a film that charts a journey through the different stages a 50 day lockdown imposes on the mind.

Don't stop the music

Working around the world during "normal" times, Scandinavian-based Matias & Mathias have been making films since they were 16. We talk with the duo about their latest lockdown campaign, their desire to make a real music video and how their earlier obsession with Bunuel has stood them in good stead.

Nelson de Castro pays homage to George Michael and Mary J. Blige’s duplication device used in their cover of Stevie Wonder’s track Always. Now for Waze & Odyssey’s version the LA-based director blurs the line between digital and practical effects with a mirroring effect achieved with a cast of twins and stunning choreography in camera.

Photo: Chandan Khanna. Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 2, 2020.

Stay in and watch these brilliant epic promos

Ladies, how are you spending your time in lockdown? Nurturing that sourdough starter? Attempting cross-stitch? Taking long and luxurious baths? In this entertaining isolation creation, shot entirely on phones, Raine Allen-Miller suggests getting to know ourselves a bit better instead – and she’s roped in her friends and family to help spread the word via an enjoyably 80s-tinged music video that extols the benefits of closing your doors and opening up your legs

Well-known for capturing intimate live sessions and a master of the one-take shoot, FRIEND director Colin Solal Cardo has honed his up-close-and-personal style with pop videos for the likes of Robyn and Charli XCX. His raw performance-based videos recently stepped up a gear with La Vita Nuova, a cinematic short film for long-time collaborator Christine and the Queens. We chatted to the French director about the dangerous allure of the single shot, catharsis through filmmaking and why performance will always be part of his DNA

Filip Nilsson’s work always has a feel good edge to it whether it’s manipulating monkeys for the Swedish legend Håkan Hellström or creating a belting user-generated video from 1,000 dancers and musicians around the world for Major Lazer.