Those lurking about Paris in the early aughts might remember an aspiring young filmmaker by the name of Jethro Massey. He was a pale, bespectacled sort who spoke an abundance of languages and buzzed with an extravaganza of ideas. Ring a bell?
Well, catching up with Jethro today, it seems we can safely scratch the word ‘aspiring’; judging by all available evidence, the fellow has fully and magnificently aspired. (Is that even a word?)
Over the past decade, his short films and music videos have been of an ever-more mesmerizing quality. (Warning: Don’t visit the ‘Showreel’ section of his website unless you’re ready to get swept into an hour or so of compulsive video watching.) At the same time, his work has been receiving ever more acclaim. How about having admirers such as David Lynch and Duran Duran?
As you can see above, his latest video, Dust Bowl III by the band Other Lives, is a hauntingly beautiful creation which has been deservedly nominated for both director of the year and video of the year at the Genero.tv platform. We had hoped Jethro would share a few words about the work, but, canny fellow that he is, the invitation was politely declined. “I spend my time making films as a means of escaping having to write anything down,” said he. However, Jethro did ask his collaborator, the writer Yelena Valer’evna Moskovich, to share her thoughts:
“This music stirred a particular feeling. That of a presence approaching, a dutiful debt-collector, collecting debts generation by generation. But what exactly does it mean to pay one’s debts? As it rang true to me: Somewhere, far off, a martyr must fall to his glory. Then, somewhere, quite close, a human must rise to disgrace.”
Well put.
For more about the video, visit Dust Bowl III’s official page at Genero.tv.
