Seraph from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo.
"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" writer-director-star John Cameron Mitchell has teamed up with Icelandic rock band Sigur Ros for a poignant new music video.
Produced as part of Sigur Ros' Valtari Mystery Film Experiment, "Seraph" actually comprises two songs from the band's latest album, "Valtari," and features a character from "Shell Game," an animated film Mitchell is producing with Brooklyn-based animator and graphic novelist Dash Shaw. The clip, which Shaw also directed, follows an abstract and at times graphic plot that melds themes of "bullying, religion and a cycle of self-hatred," according to Mitchell.
"We were allowed do whatever we wanted with the music from their new album--no parameters but the small budget," Mitchell, who befriended Sigur Ros' lead singer Jónsi eight years ago, told HuffPost Gay Voices in an email. "I chose to do a six-minute narrative short... 'Seraph' is the superqueer result using two songs from the new album."
The Valtari Mystery Film Experiment is perhaps best known for yielding the music video for "Fjögur Píanó," in which Shia LaBeouf appeared fully nude.
Mitchell will also be on hand Sept. 16 at Provincetown's Afterglow Festival, during which he'll perform an excerpt from his highly-anticipated "Hedwig" sequel with composer Stephen Trask.