With a drab color palette of greys and and blues, reminiscent of somber films like A Single Man, comes the music video for Antony And The Johnsons’ emotive new track, “Cut The World”. At just under 5 minutes, the music video features some well-known faces and figures, like William Dafoe, Marina Abramovic, and Carice van Houten. The slow-moving mini-drama finds its main strength in singular facial expressions, moods conveyed by slight gestures, and focuses on minuteia. And with this brief description, you should watch this video (along with the one for the philosophical “Future Feminine” — both available after the jump), as it is a miniature cinematic achievement in music video form.
Directed by Nabil
This title track comes from Cut The World, Antony’s new track which will be released on August 8th on Secretly Canadian. It is also one of many of Antony’s songs to be featured in The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, a performance production centered around Abramovic’s death. (Antony himself, william Dafoe, Marina Abramovic, and Robert Wilson were all involved in this performance. You can see photos from it HERE.)
“Future Feminism”, the opening track on Cut The World, is not a song, but a straight-forward monologue from Antony about sexuality, politics, spirituality, and how it all relates to one another.
I’ve been searching and searching for that little bit of my consistution that isn’t of this place, and I still haven’t found it. Every atom of me, every element of me, seems to resonate; it seems to reflect the great world around me.” — Antony Hegarty, in “Future Feminism”
Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Managing Editor of South Seattle Emerald, and Co-Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.
Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.
Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!, and are pursuing a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.
In 2014, Yanomami shaman and activist Davi Kopenawa co-authored The Falling Sky, a landmark work chronicling the Yanomami’s Indigenous worldview and warning of the dire consequences of environmental destruction. Ten years after the...
both of them. incredible. thank you!