Private Project

Spanish Flowers

Tuned to the haunting music of legendary underground rock band Philm, Spanish Flowers follows a surreal, animated narrative involving a ritual of life and death carried out by two monks and a mourning priestess, who is now forced to let go of her mummified son...

  • Ness Tomaselli, Fernando Yanes
    Director
    Spanish Flowers, Savings, Mt. Roraima
  • Ness Tomaselli
    Writer
    Spanish Flowers, Savings
  • Ness Tomaselli
    Producer
    Spanish Flowers, Savings
  • Fanny Vicencio
    Character Designer
    Spanish Flowers, The After School Special, The Occulting Light
  • Ness Tomaselli
    Character Designer
    Spanish Flowers, Savings
  • Fanny Vicencio
    Cel Animator
    Spanish Flowers, The After School Special, The Occulting Light
  • Celia Hsu
    Cel Animator
    Spanish Flowers, Perception, Endless Adventure
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Music Video
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, Music Video
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 11, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • 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
  • LA Shorts International Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Venice Shorts
    Venice Beach, Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Selection, Best US Animation
  • Mindfield Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Diamond Award for Best Music Video
  • ISA: Independent Shorts Awards
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Selection, Honorable Mention
  • RAW Holiday Showcase
    Downtown LA, Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Showcase & Screening
  • New Wave Short Film Festival
    Munich
    Germany
    Official Selection
  • JellyFest Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Flickfair Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Silicon Beach Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Horsetooth International Film Festival
    Fort Collins
    United States
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Ness Tomaselli, Fernando Yanes

Nestor Tomaselli:

As a visual artist, I show stories that explore the inner language of the human mind. My travels have seen colorful tropics, Incan ruins, rocky snow giants, and the screens of the world's biggest cities.

As a disciple of Film and Motion Media at SCAD, I achieved a milestone in my journey, translating my writings and drawings of a decade in motion into movies, animations, and new creations in between.

Combining the timeless crafts of other artists like Kubrick, Lovecraft, Huxley, Rafal Oblinski, Andreas Cellarius and the increasing development of new technology, I broadcast meaning to the watching audience so they too survive their journey.

Fernando Yanes:

I double-majored in Motion Graphics and Sound Design at Savannah College of Art and Design. The reason behind this choice is simple: I want to make you cry. For me to achieve this I need to be sure to hit that one spot. The one that makes you not forget. The one that makes you feel half-guilty for not doing anything about it. Through emotional impact I am able to push change. Positive change.

As an artist I choose to apply my skills to inspire change through entertainment. Using various visual and auditory mediums, paired with a creative mind, I'm able to create awareness and emotionally move people.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When we first face the idea of death, we become a slave to our emotions, shocked by the frailty of life. It is then our duty to surpass our suffering and solidify our memories with acceptance and love.

Visually, we wanted to interpret this concept through stark white and black contrasts. The images and spaces created by these contrasts remind the viewer to think visually about the fleeting moments of life, always a blink away from death. We didn't want to make a music video, we wanted to tell a story through music, where the melody is the narrator and the images the verbose poem.

For our own journey in creating this story, it was equally intuitive- where there was a problem, we found a creative solution in technology to transform each barrier into an opportunity to try something new that has not been seen before in today's mixed media & animation landscape.