Kiersey Clemons and Lisa Bonet Have Visions In Alma Har’el’s ‘Trippy Love Letter To Women’ — Watch
A trifecta of badass female talent is on display in “Jellywolf,” a new short film from Alma Har’el for Chanel and iD’s new channel, The Fifth Sense. Known for her wildly inventive filmmaking techniques, Alma Har’el has garnered A-list collaborators, such as Shia LaBeouf, who co-produced her forthcoming feature, “LoveTrue.” Har’el first made waves when her hybrid documentary, “Bombay Beach,” took home the top prize at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011.
In “Jellywolf,” Clemons plays a young girl seeking answers in a topsy turvy world where jellyfish fall from the sky, and electrifying visions are had with one gulp of a witch’s brew. Lisa Bonet plays a mysterious shop owner who guides her on her vision quest, directing her to follow her nose and wearing a shirt that proclaims, “Women Smell Better.”
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“I was inspired by Synesthesia, a condition that gets your senses to cross paths, and my need to portray women in a new light,” Har’el said. “This is a trippy love letter to women who need to heal so they can find their voices.” She was inspired by the current political moment to make a film that centered strong women uplifting each other.
Much of the text used during the fantasy sequence is pieced together from Clemons’ own experiences. “One of my favorite moments of making this film was creating the trippy voice over of Kiersey Clemons. It is a combination of lines I wrote and a 2 hours interview I did with her about her grandmother and being a woman.”
Har’el has directed genre-bending music videos, highbrow commercials, and her feature films tend blend elements of fiction and non-fiction. The Chanel collaboration was another way to blur lines. “I also wanted to explore this grey area between content and commercials. I always want to bend any genre and question any definitions I can. I think that brands like Chanel who trust artists the way they trusted me with this film are leading the way.”
Check out “Jellywolf” below:
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