A short film by Little Simz
A live-action film by Moses Sumney
Today, WePresent, WeTransfer’s digital arts platform, shares details on two films from two of the most important music voices to be released next month.
I love you I hate you
Released on November 17, 2021 at WePresent
(Image: Still 1 from I Love You, I Hate You – WePresent by WeTransfer)
The first is the first film by acclaimed British artist and actor Simbiatu Ajikawo also known as Little Simz – an original short narrative film entitled I Love You, I Hate You, released today. In addition to starring in the film, the story of I Love You, I Hate You was created by Little Simz and directed by Sam Pilling and written by Caroline Adeyemi. Little Simz co-stars Shaniqua Okwok (It’s A Sin, Small Ax), CJ Beckford (Big Age, National Theater’s Small Island) and newcomer Sonia Ajuwa. The film is a deep dive into a song of the same name from Little Simz’s recently released album, Sometimes I can be introverted. The film’s director Sam Pilling has previously directed visuals for The Weeknd, David Lynch, J. Cole and others.
I Love You, I Hate You focuses on repressed memories, interpreting Little Simz’s father’s relationship with herself. The film takes its cues from her song of the same title, which covers so much difficult material that Little Simz initially refused to write it. The ghost he didn’t want to talk about? Her absent father. “Are you a sperm donor or a dad to me?” she asks. “My selfishness will not allow me to say that I miss you” confesses. “A woman who has not faced all of her dad’s problems.” The film I love you, I hate you highlights this full relationship in all its potential.
says Little Sims about the project, “I love you, I hate you is the story of abandonment. How can trauma affect us in our adult lives if we never deal with it? I wanted to make this film because I feel it is a world story that many people can relate to. It was incredible to work with a partner like WePresent (WeTransfer’s digital arts platform) who has invested so much in storytelling like this. They understood and trusted my vision from the jump and they had my back to create the film I intended to make “.
click HERE to watch I Love You, I Hate You. The full titles of the film are listed below.
Live film directed by Moses Sumney
Scheduled for release on WePresent on December 8, 2021
(Image credit: Still 1 by Blackalachia – WePresent by WeTransfer)
The second work is a 67-minute live-action film starring and directed by renowned artist Moses Sumney, which will be released on December 8, 2021. Blackalachia, the film was made in two days in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West North Carolina and includes songs from Sumney albums Gray and Aromatization.
says Sumney, “During two days, we shot 14 songs, completely live, the trees as our audience, the locusts as our singers. “The film is a wild fantasy of what can happen when we do not just seek to reclaim nature, but to re-integrate with it.”
click HERE to Watch a Blackalachia Trailer | The full titles of the film are listed below.
Both films are further additions We presentIts impressive cinematic pillar, with the platform acting as executive producers, as well as commissioners of each project.
The Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer of WePresent Holly Fraser says, To date, WePresent has released a string of impressive short film and documentary orders, and following the success of “The Long Goodbye” – an award-winning collaboration with artist Riz Ahmed and director Aneil Karia – we wanted to make sure we kept saying loud and moving stories. After talking to Little Simz about the very personal idea in the heart of “I Love You, I Hate You”, we knew this was a story that would resonate with people around the world. Marking Little Simz’s first intrusion into the narrative film, we see this revealing even greater depth in an already multi-layered artist.
In view of the release of its digital arts platform Blackalachia by Moses Sumney, Fraser goes on, “After months of planning, ‘Blackalachia’ was filmed in the fall of 2020 during the pandemic, when musicians could not appear in live crowds. Working with an artist like Moses Sumney, who has such a strong vision and sense of art, has been extremely encouraging and we hope ‘Blackalachia’ inspires other artists to see the many possibilities of multi-layered storytelling through music. WePresent was able to work with Moses to bring this amazing and colorful film to life and now we can finally share it with the world on our platform. We look forward to continuing to work with this important artist and watching him break down the boundaries between the arts. “
WeTransfer has started We present in 2018, giving global visionaries – from Solange Knowles, Bon Iver and John Legend to IDLES, FKA twigs and Riz Ahmed – a place to create new work without limits and reach the 87 million active WeTransfer users monthly. We present commissions more than 10 major projects each year, bringing together art, cinema, music and great writing, enabling creators to realize their ideas. WePresent has presented stories for 1000 creatives from more than 100 countries, creating one of the most diverse content on the web.
of WePresent The works are starting points of conversations and cultural changes of games that have lit a match below the possibilities of artistic collaboration, extending beyond the traditional boundaries of the internet sphere. Their collaboration with FKA twigs lasted three years, unforgettable with a familiar film that showed her training for the video “Cellophane”. of Reese Witherspoon The long goodbye, whose executive production of WePresent, was also a huge success, winning Best Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards, a Gold and Two Silver Lions at the Cannes Lions and the Grand Prix at the Odense International Film Festival in addition to the Odense Film Festival. for the Oscars.
Image sheet with link for high resolution photos HERE.
I love you, I hate you credits:
Starring: Simbiatu Ajikawo (Sage), Sonia Ajuwa (Young Sage), Shaniqua Okwok (Annie), CJ Beckford (Omar)
History: Simbiatu Ajikawo
Screenwriters: Caroline Adeyemi & Sam Pilling
Producers: Rik Green & Harri Kamalanathan
Executive Producers: James Sorton, Davud Karbassioun, Bianca Bhagat, Simbiatu Ajikawo, Holly Fraser, Tiffany Yu & Phil van der Krogt
Photo address: Cristina Dunlap
Executive Producers: Moses Sumney, Holly Fraser, Tiffany Yu, Phil van der Krogt, Danielle Boelling, Liv Siddall, Suzanne Tromp, Alex Kahl
For press information contact:
USA – Jen Appel – [email protected] / Lindsay Simon – [email protected]
UK and Europe – Rob Chute [email protected] / Sophia Ikirwami [email protected]
Of the many voices in music today, Little Simz’s is one of the most imposing, writing in a tone of intensity and urgency that few can match. Her latest record, Sometimes I can be introverted, is a vividly hybrid, a work of radical sincerity that uses personal history as a means to magnify and challenge the paradoxes we find ourselves in, socially and personally, macro and micro. Like some of the legendary musicians who came before her, Simz looks at the chaos and disorder in the world right now with ingenious, sophisticated eyes and sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility it offers.
Moses Sumney avoids defining it as an act of duty: technicolor video and monochrome clothes. Art Rock and Black Classical? blowing at Fashion Week from a small town in North Carolina. seemingly inexperienced collaborators, but only a shocking voice. A young life that passed between Southern California and the Extreme Ghana – not so much without roots as an epiphyte, an air plant. The scale is cinematic, but the movements are precise acts of art and management. Sumney’s latest effort, the generous double album, gray, is a claim that the indefinite still exists and staying in it is an act of resistance.
There is probably a biblical analogy to be made for a person who happens to be called Moses, who leaves the binary, splits a massive body into two parts and leads us to the intermediate – sacred and utterly revolutionary. With separation gray in two versatile, dynamic pieces, Sumney literally created a “gray” space for listeners to absorb and explore art. No strict singles, no strict albums, never total songs or parts of spoken words on their own. It is neither here nor there. “Neither / Nor”, if you will.
WePresent is WeTransfer’s digital arts platform, which acts as the company’s cultural torchbearer to a monthly audience of 3 million in 190 countries. Collaborating with emerging young talent with famous artists such as Marina Abramovic, Riz Ahmed, FKA twigs or David Sedaris, WePresent presents the best in art, photography, film, music, literature and more, defending diversity in what he does. The platform’s orders range from publishing functions to movies, illustrations, photo series, events, exhibitions and social media activations, with the aim of offering a new look at the magic and mystery of creative ideas.
WeTransfer simplifies the workflow process for millions of creative professionals. Its creative productivity tool suite makes it easy to collaborate, share and deliver work. WeTransfer has more than 87 million monthly active users in 190 countries.
As a certified B Corporation We, WeTransfer has long been a champion in using business as a force for good. Since its inception in 2009, WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of its advertising real estate to raise awareness of artists, creative work and the world’s most pressing issues.
