Last year’s Sean Baker-directed Tangerine was one of the year’s best films. Shot on iPhones and starring untrained actors, it became an indie darling and propelled Baker and his stars into the spotlight. It’s no shock, then, that Baker has been tapped by hyper-hip French fashion label Kenzo to produce an 11-minute short film, titled Snowbird (after the slang for settlers in Slab City), starring model Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road), and serving, subversively, as a showcase for the label’s latest collection.
The film, shot in California squatter settlement Slab City, follows Lee as Theo, who travels from person to person with a fresh-baked, too-sweet cake. Ultimately, she ends up at the house of Bob, the man she loves, and Baker plays the film out with a nice, easy twist.
Alongside Lee, the film also stars Clarence Williams III, of The Mod Squad, as well as Mary Woronov, an artist, Warhol Muse, and Roger Corman star. Because this is a film sponsored by a fashion label, all of the characters are dressed in absurdly high fashion clothes, though Kenzo’s kooky benzo aesthetic and Baker’s eye for color and framing make the whole thing feel weirdly natural.
Baker recently spoke to the New York Times about the project, saying “there was something about fashion films: Because there would be a narrative and because I would be able to experiment, it was so appealing. This was the first time I was actually excited by a project I was being commissioned for.”
For more info on the film (and the fashion), head to Kenzo’s faux-IMDB page. Watch the film below.