The troubles of young, forbidden love could be a typical tale, which is why director John Merizalde sets the action in a town under the spell of an unusual cult.
John Merizalde, director: "When I first listened to the track, I was reminded of a small rural town in Georgia called Bethlehem, about an hour away from where I grew up. That, coupled with the themes behind the track — basically a critique against religiously motivated violence and hate — were the initial catalyst for theidea. The use of 16mm film and slow zooms were incorporated to hopefully give it a more old-school feel.
And no, I never attended a snake church growing up... Although I do know some people that did."
I know you're bummed that you missed the Furry Weekend Atlanta convention, but cheer up: Director Jay Buim attended and came back with an over-the-top video.
Jay Buim, director: "One of my favorite things about making documentary style work is the access and freedom it provides you to interact with new people in the new places and situations. I have known about the Furry fandom for some time and was always curious about what it was actually like within their community. When Motez approached me about making something that had a party based focus, I immediately thought of doing something within the furry community.
We reached out to Tiger Paw the CEO of FWA (Furry Weekend Atlanta) and all the other fine folks involved with FWA and asked them if we could hang around there for a few days, trying to capture the beauty and joy that exists during furry conventions. After talking with countless people within the community, it was clear that they felt no one from the outside really understood what they were about as is the case with most subcultures.
In fact almost everyone referenced a CSI episode that painted the community in an unfavorable light as being the thing that set off the outsider perspective on the fandom. What I found over the course of four days was a warm and welcoming group of people, with a contagious attitude of pure joy that filled up the entire Marriot Marquis in downtown Atlanta. I hope that this video functions as something that people in the fandom can look at and get stoked about while at the same time giving outsiders a different perspective on what furries are about, a surreal and supremely fun way to move through this world."
The obvious move would have been to shoot at the legendary Electric Lady Studios — and the stickier idea would have been to pay homage to the alternate NSFW Electric Ladyland album art — but Janelle Monae does not do the expected.
