what do you know of water's worth while standing on the banks of the euphrates

2018 in short review....

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This was a wonderful year for us at ANIMALS & we are stoked that you shared it with us! Here is the short review:

  • We released two feature films: THREE WORLDS & MAN (both also avail on Amazon Prime in all English speaking territories along with several other major platforms). One of these we shouldered for close to 5 years. This also concluded the THREE MARKS TOO MANY SIGNALS series of works that started with the release of CANYON in 2016.

  • We re-released an HD update of my 2010 feature film WHALE (Amazon Prime & other platforms avail as well).

  • We released two soundtracks (OST) for both films on all major music platforms. (THREE WORLDS / MAN)

  • We re-released a collection of Mirs singles into a short full length record called Singles 1218 (including two all new tracks from 2018 ((Saturday / Hafiz Drinks from the Cup of Time V1)) available on all major music platforms)

  • We released the Mirs Visual Short Film, “what do you know of water’s worth while standing on the banks of the euphrates” - This was technically a 2017 release, but it was close enough to a year to date to include here.

  • We almost got done with two other major releases, but they had to be pushed into 2019, both around 90% finished. These two where brought into life by incredible stretches of faith & ample serendipity.

We look forward to a wonderful 2019, and are busy with new works, new collaborations and new possibilities. I want to thank everyone who we worked with us this year and all the incredible talent we collaborated with on these projects in a plethora of capacities, and to everyone who shared and helped us push our agenda forward.

Thank you deeply and with the sincerest gratitude,

am

isharethisflowerwithyou.jpg

what do you know of water’s worth while standing on the banks of the euphrates

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(if inclined, please watch the work first...it runs 15min.)

Tomorrow marks the online premiere of my latest work (today for you) which I have conveniently embedded the link in this post. (if you prefer, on vimeo here)

This project functions as both a standalone film and also, a visual single for "Moonlighting MIssion Man", the latest release from my music project MIRS.

Two birds, one stone on the shallow end, a postmodernist twist on a Rene Magritte expression on the pretentious end. Both, equally as valid.

This is the working synopsis or thesis put through a press release blender:  "The film captures an intimate sliver into an Iranian American Sufi Muslim poet (Mahsa Hosseini) as she goes about finding meaning in her life. The visual narrative, shot in a classic cinéma vérité style, provides a strong counterpoint to the hidden, synth-driven, processed vocals in "Moonlighting Mission Man". The video eludes to a dual narrative between the film & the music, though kept hidden from plain sight."

Ultimately, this project started with this question, "Is this a short film or a music video?". And for me, ended with identity. (an ephemeral thing, with real-world consequences). 

But back to Magritte, and equally, Jean Baudrillard. Why is the opening question important to me? Media (and its contents) by in large is an open-ended question nowadays, and while I'm personally working through the details of this new paradigm, doing so with a dichotomous media might be my best way of processing it. What is a film? What is a tweet? How are they different? These are important questions in hyperreality when words have less direct meaning, and content rules all.