Allie Avital sees Me In 20 Years

Isolation is something many of us have had to deal with over the past few months, but, as this haunting promo for Moses Sumney's Me In 20 Years (shot before the pandemic) goes to show, for some it's more than just a fleeting reality.

Bringing to life Sumney's words, SMUGGLER director Allie Avital and cinematographer Logan Triplett utilise the brutalist architecture of Kiev and a measured performance from the artist himself as solitary, crumbling figure to paint a melancholic picture of longing, loneliness and lost love.

“The concept came directly from Moses' lyrics," comments Avital. "The imagery was all there, and I immediately saw this older Moses in my head, with this pulsing thirsty crater in his bed. I didn't realize how eerily prophetic it would be, as the whole world contemplates loneliness, isolation, and death. 

"Shooting in Kiev with Radioaktive [who ran production service on the shoot] was incredible. I'm a native Russian speaker but it was my first time being in a Russian-speaking city, and I got to direct in my first language, which was pretty special. The Soviet style exteriors we shot added another personal layer for me; a lot of my family lived in those tiny communal apartments.”