If you’ve witnessed the beautiful first two features from Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre) then you know the NYU grad is one of our most promising young directors. While he’s deciding his next feature — perhaps a two-part adaptation of Stephen King‘s It — he’s kept busy with shorts and commercials and today we have his latest.
Commissioned by the fashion brand Maiyet, the filmmaker went to East Africa and followed Knight of Cups actress Haley Bennett and Zero Dark Thirty‘s Fares Fares for Sleepwalking in the Rift, part of a 30-minute series of short vignettes. While there’s little narrative to speak of, Fukunaga is able to evoke strong emotion in just this gorgeous portion, which can be seen below thanks to Nowness (via Cinema Blend).
Against the arresting backdrop of the East African bush, Haley Bennett portrays a young woman at a crossroads in life in this daring film by the critically acclaimed director Cary Fukunaga, commissioned by the distinguished fashion brand Maiyet. “We showed up in Africa with a one-line idea of what we were trying to do,” says the young auteur, whose cast and crew spent three days in Kenya. “It was really experimental in that sense.” Maiyet founders Kristy Caylor and ex-human rights lawyer Paul Van Zyl’s decision to shoot on location in Kenya falls in line with the company’s mission to cultivate business and craft in unexpected place, wherever there is genuine skill. The result plays with the conventions of movie advertising: this is a trailer with no feature attached. Instead, Fukunaga created a 30-minute series of short vignettes featuring the Maiyet Resort 2013 collection, to premiere in London this week. After receiving the directing award at the 2009 Sundance Festival with his debut feature, Sin Nombre, the 35-year-old American filmmaker took on the latest adaptation of Jane Eyre, starring Mia Wasikowska with Michael Fassbender. Set to a sweetly evocative score, this recent work sees actress and singer Bennett forge a tender connection with her ranger guide, played by Swedish actor Fares Fares, as they explore lush new environments. The intensive process of filming had its own immersive, cinematic moments. “On our first or second day there, a herd of giraffes started charging us,” recalls the director. “It was so beautiful that we filmed it until we realized we should probably get out of the road.”
Are you looking forward to Fukunaga’s next feature?