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Mapplethorpe

Music video filmed and edited by filmmaker/songwriter/performer, Lily Vakili, to accompany the track of the same name off her band's recently released Honey album.

  • Lily Iran Vakili
    Director
    My Wild Heart
  • Lily Vakili
    Producer
    My Wild Heart
  • Lily Vakili
    Soundtrack
  • Ben St Jack
    Soundtrack
  • Joel Dorow
    Soundtrack
  • Matt Jovanis
    Soundtrack
  • Gordon Kuba
    Soundtrack
  • Kostadin Kamcev
    Sound Engineering
  • Greg Calbi
    Sound Engineering
  • Project Type:
    Music Video
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Top Shorts Film Festival

    October 29, 2023
    Official Selection - Semi-Finalist
  • Rutherford Film Festival
    Rutherford, New Jersey
    United States
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Lily Iran Vakili

A peripatetic background — born in Honduras and raised in Florida, Thailand, Puerto Rico and Iowa — contributed to an early interest in creative expression as both a form of identity and a necessity of assimilation. Lily has performed with Minneapolis’ Children’s Theatre Company, Ballet of the Dolls, and Brass Tacks Theatre, in the film PRIVATE ENEMY- PUBLIC EYE by the American visual artist, Bruce Charlesworth, and at the La Mama Experimental Theatre Company under Ellen Stewart in New York City. She is bandleader and songwriter (and frequent videographer) for Vakili Band - whose sound is described by Under The Radar as "an electric blend of rock, soul & psychedelia". Vakili Band's third studio album - Honey - was released Sept 2023 and includes Mapplethorpe.

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Director Statement

For me, the process of making art is a search for a kind of equilibrium between where you are and what you know, and escaping that very thing. It's being cognizant of the hard limitations of your existence while also seeking freedom. “Mapplethorpe” is a meditation on these themes and others – try as I might to eschew nostalgia, the longing for things past, sometimes you must drop the evasive maneuvers, turn and meet it, hands outstretched, with clarity of thought and an open heart. It is also an ode to the relationship between Robert Mapplethorpe (an exceptional artist/photographer whose range of work is breathtaking) and Patti Smith (the poet/rocker). I was attracted to that non-gender-based idea of obsession, companionship and artistic rapture.