Sam I Am director, Aimée-Lee X. Curran, has just added another award to her collection . Her film, 5am, for Caitlin Harnett & the Pony Boys has won Best Narrative at the Clipped Music Video Festival, Australia’s longest-running festival dedicated to the art of music video production.
Her summer campaign for CommBank and the Australian Women’s Cricket Team, C’mon Aussie: Revisited, was awarded B&T’s Women in Media Award for Best Ad Campaign – Championing the Equality Cause at the end of October.
Curran also released her third music video for Caitlin Harnett & the Pony Boys this week. She teamed up with inner-West brewery, Young Henrys, for the film, a hilariously absurd Christmas-themed horror story for the song, All My Friends Are Dancers. The clip premiered at Randwick Ritz Cinema as part of the Clipped Music Video Festival and was applauded with laughs and cheers from the audience.
Directing actors in tongue-in-cheek dramadies with heart is Curran’s forte. Her distinctive visual style is populated with rich imagery and offbeat characters and very specific colour palettes that stand out in crowds, whether those are music videos or commercials. The Chinese-Irish writer-director also places particular emphasis on casting culturally diverse actors for her films and special emphasis on characterisation, both of which enhance her work’s appeal.
She has already built up a portfolio of commercial work that includes TVCs for CommBank, PayPal, H&M, and Ad Standards. Her short film, Jump, has screened at over 25 international film festivals, and won Best Short Film at the Academy Award-accredited Palm Springs International ShortFest, and Blue Mountains Film Festival.
Season Two of the web series, Syd2030, which she directed, won Best International Web Series at the LA Film, TV & Webisode Festival, the Melbourne WebFest and Dublin WebFest.
Sam I Am founder, Samantha Simpson, commented, “We are super proud of Aimée-Lee’s recent wins. Her natural flair for directing actors in comedy and unique approach to storytelling is definitely highlighted in 5am and is a talent she also carries over when embarking on commercial campaign work.”
Curran added, “We approached this music video like a short film. It was a huge undertaking to fit all of the character and story beats into a three-minute song, so I really couldn’t be more thrilled with winning Best Narrative.”
