Experiencing Interruptions?

Red Lion

A numinous Red Lion illuminates the path the warrior goddess Metallia must take to align her fragmented selves and restore an ever-present multidimensional vision long lost to humanity.

Director/composer Olivia Hadjiioannou (aka Oh.) presents a consciousness-expanding visual and acoustic odyssey within a multidimensional psychedelic landscape.

Inspired by scenes from Federico Fellini's, "8 1/2", Lewis Carroll's, "Alice in Wonderland", Maurice Sendak's, "Where the Wild Things Are", Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's, "The Little Prince" and ancient Greek myth.

"Red Lion" is the first in a six-part series of animated music videos by the multi-instrumentalist, Oh. for the progressive metal album, "Metallia".

  • Olivia Hadjiioannou
    Director
  • Tima Vlasto
    Animation & VFX
  • Olivia Hadjiioannou
    Animation & VFX
  • Olivia Hadjiioannou
    Producer
  • Oh. (aka Olivia Hadjiioannou)
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Music Video
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 13, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    Greece
  • Country of Filming:
    Greece
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • French Riviera Film Festival
    Cannes
    France
    May 19, 2019
    Winner Best Music Video
  • Cosmocinema Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    May 14, 2019
    Winner Best Music Video
  • The Psychedelic and Transpersonal Film and Music Festival
    New York, New York
    United States
    May 18, 2019
    Winner Best Music Video
  • Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival
    Paleochora, Crete
    Greece
    June 6, 2019
    Winner Best Experimental Mixed Media
  • Independent Talents International Film Festival
    Bloomington, IN
    United States
    March 31, 2019
    Winner
  • Light and Future International Film Festival
    Houston, TX
    United States
    March 31, 2019
    Semi-Finalist
  • Indie Visions Film Festival
    Charlottesville, Virginia
    United States
    March 31, 2019
    Semi-Finalist
  • Music Shorts Film Festival
    Missoula, MT
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Solaris Film Festival
    Nice
    France
    May 31, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Lift-Off Sessions
    London
    United Kingdom
    Finalist
  • Aphrodite Film Awards
    New York, New York
    United States
    June 3, 2019
    Semi-Finalist Best Music Video
  • Oniros Film Awards
    St Vincent
    Italy
    Honorable Mention VFX & Best Music Video
  • Insomnia International Animation Film Festival
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Olivia Hadjiioannou

Olivia Hadjiioannou is a Greek multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer who goes by the moniker Oh. She made her debut in 2013 with a 24-minute debut EP, “Sleeping World”. “Trials”—a song about the struggles of her ‘lost generation’ won an international music video award in 2013. The song was selected by the Greek press as one of the top-50 events to mark Greece during the economic crisis.

“Sleeping World’ also caused a stir in the international music press. Reviewers compared her vocal talents to stars like Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Happy Rhodes, Céline Dion, Melissa Auf der Maur, Sharon Den Adel and Anneke Van Giesbergen.

In 2015, she followed up with a 34-minute instrumental progressive metal concept album “Synemotion” as a Double Limited-Edition vinyl release.

Between 2016 to 2018 Oh. released four successful single-ballads about love (“Love Will Heal”, “Love of Avalanches”, “I’m In Love” and “Deserted Eyes”). The music video for “Love of Avalanches” was one of the first handmade 360 virtual reality (VR) videos on YouTube. The innovative workflow to produce the video was showcased at NAB in 2016 by Mettle. A 3D WebGL interactive experience for the launch of the single “I’m in Love” was nominated on Awwwards.com in 2017.

The last of the single ballad series, “Deserted Eyes” was released on January 19, 2018 with an animated music video and innovative WebGL experience. The song was a semi-finalist in the 2017 International Songwriters Competition (ISC) and the music video was the winner of the Cosmocinema Awards for Best Music Video Award in the London Greek Film Festival, an official selection in the 13th Athens Animfest 2018, and winner for Best Video Art in the Five Continents International Film Festival and selection in the Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival.

A progressive metal EP, “Metallia” was released July 27 2018. The music video for the song “Red Lion” from the album is Winner of Best Music Video award in the inaugural French Riviera Film Festival (FRFF) in Cannes, France. And winner Best Music Video at the Cosmocinema Film Festival in London The short is presently a winner and official selection in 12 film festivals worldwide including Winner of Best Experimental Mixed Media in the Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival and Best music video in The Psychedelic and Transpersonal Film and Music Festival in New York.

The EP “Metallia” has received over 32 reviews from 13 countries worldwide, is in top 10 progressive rock and metal charts and listed as one of the best albums of the year for 2018 on Metal Nation Radio.

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Director Statement

We all want to have answers to the ultimate meaning of why we are here.

There’s a time when you need to set aside everything you already know. We collect experiences and impressions with our minds and this increases the presence of our soul. There is a duality not only without but within because the mind receives information from both the body and the spirit. If the connection is weak between the spirit and the mind – there is no possibility to see the whole or our state and place in existence. Our minds – our everyday consciousness is cluttered with judgements, repetition, echoes of apprehension and fear, debates and doubts. If left on its own without the guidance of spirit; we exist in a negative world, alienated, in conflict with reality.

This missing connection is at the core of all our physical, emotional and mental health issues.

There is a way to recover our initial state so we can truly begin our journey here as we were meant to.

We must isolate the thoughts, feelings and emotions produced by the physical body first. Then it will be possible to isolate the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are given by our spirits. Once both are recognized, a vision of an ever-present state of awareness awakens on its own.

Metallia acoustically and visually narrates this very intimate personal, spiritual and psychic journey. – Olivia Hadjiioannou aka Oh.