DEVENDRA BANHART
"Für Hildegard von Bingen"
NONESUCH RECORDS
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The first music video I ever made was for Devendra, back in our San Francisco days. Many years later, here is our third collaboration. Each time we get to know each other a little better, and our work evolves. Für Hildegard von Bingen is actually based on a 12th-century Catholic mystic, composer and nun, however in his track of the same name, Devendra re-imagines her life as a sister who escapes the cloister and becomes a VJ. This was my favorite track on the album, with such a great hook, and though someone said never make a music video too literal, they must have been thinking of songs that do not have a nun VJ. Yet despite its great plot, I guess others got that same "never be literal" memo, so it took a lot of convincing all around. But once we decided to go for it, we found it could still take on a life unexpected. And actually when we internalized Hildegards longing, it became a film about longing, not a career shift.
For production I was lucky to have Devendra in town rehearsing for his new tour, so we spent mornings scouting locations and working out all the details. It was sweet to finally find our location - really close to my favorite dumpling spot, Din Tai Fung. The location was built by Wallace Neff as a two-thirds replica of Michaelangelo’s Villa i Collazzi, in Florence, and actually had been a nunnery in the '50s. Wyatt shot this with a lot of natural light, really capturing something so special, and Barrios at A52, applied a painstaking day for night process to get the film to its final place.
CREDITS
starring Jodie Smith
with Joel Virgil
director Isaiah Seret
written by Isaiah Seret & Devendra Banhart
executive producer Candice Ouaknine
producer Anne Johnson
cinematographer Wyatt Troll
production designer Adam Willis
costumes Mindy Le Brock
choreography Jasmine Albuquerque and Kristen Leahy
visual effects & post Andy Barrios @ A52
coloris Paul Yacono
titles by OSK Studio
editor Damion Clayton @ Rock Paper Scissors
special thanks Nicole Disson, Jahmin Assa, Adarsha Benjamin, MocaTV, Panavision
production company Prettybird