Ibeye // River

For the music video "River" by the French-Cuban duo Ibeyi, directed by Ed Morris, I served as the Visual Effects Lead in a seamless collaboration with London-based studio nineteentwenty. My primary responsibility was to architect and stitch together the complex VFX that allow the film to exist as a single, gripping, unbroken shot.

The video is a visceral, spiritual experience, depicting the twin sisters being repeatedly submerged in a ritualistic baptism that blurs the line between tranquility and intensity. To achieve this "otherworldly" look, I spearheaded the technical execution of the underwater transitions, ensuring that the sisters appeared to remain submerged for a breathtakingly long duration without breaking the emotional spell of the performance.

This required a meticulous approach to seamless stitching and fluid manipulation, maintaining the "skeletal" and minimalist aesthetic of the track while honoring the deep Yoruba traditions and spiritual essence the sisters represent. By managing the delicate balance between the physical reality of the shoot and the impossible nature of the final visual, I helped create a hauntingly beautiful piece of art that has become a defining visual for the band’s baptism into the global music scene.