Featuring an original score adapted from her debut album, the film also includes a poem from Julianknxx.
To mark the release of her debut album, this is no longer a dream, Fact Resident anaiis has teamed up with CHILD Studio for spirit moves, a short film for London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Described as “an exploration of ancestral, traditional, cultural and spiritual ties that exist beyond the boundaries of the material dimensions”, the film incorporates spiritual elements of both Senegalese and Afro-Brazilian traditions, a journey through the many countries and cultures within which anaiis was raised. With a focus on ritualistic movement, a meditative score adapted from anaiis’ debut album and a poem from fellow Fact Resident Julianknxx, the film is a spiritual exploration of the interconnectivity of the Black diaspora, as well as an homage to the cultures that have inspired anaiis throughout her career.
this is no longer a dream is the result of a long and hard process of reckoning for anaiis, following years of enduring emotional abuse, gaslighting and crippling self-doubt while mired in major label politics. “The title of the album was an affirmation towards being able to manifest my reality,” she explains. “The process wasn’t in any way straightforward, as I had to dig into an emotional place that was dark and confused. I almost felt like I was scrambling to put the pieces together, untangling everything that had become convoluted in my mind.”
With features from Chronixx, Topaz Jones, Sjava, Jay Prince, CKTRL, Onyx Collective, Jesse & Forever and Azekel, on this is no longer a dream anaiis expand her sonic palette to make space for the multitudes that went into the making of this album. Thought at times dark and insular, the album traces her journey through hardship and pain, as well as her emergence into a happier, more creative space. “When it feels like the sky is painted on the ceiling, you think you can have it all but actually you’re in a cage; you’re trapped,” she says. “We tell ourselves a lot of narratives and uphold them because we believe them, but they don’t always serve us. Holding space for not being OK can be all it takes to find our way back to the path we are meant to be on.”
this is no longer a dream, elements of which feature in spirit moves, is out now. You can find anaiis on Instagram.
spirit moves Credits:
Directed by CHILD
Producer Ella Kenny
Production Manager Nycollas Abreu
Project Manager and Concept Development Alex Ali Mohammadi
With special thanks to Malcolm Yaeng
Cast:
Yewande YoYo Odunubi
Aida Diop
Batch Gueye
Shifu Desmond
anaiis
DOP – Henry Gill
Gaffer – Jorje Higgins
Focus Puller – Harry Coleman
Second Unit DOP – Buster Grey-Jung
Stylist – Natalie Roar
Styling Assistant – Emmanouela Megkitsou
Hair – Lauraine Bailey
Make Up – Yolanda Dohr
Art Director – Bevan Agyemang
Movement – Director Yagamoto
Runner – Autumn Stockley
Runner – Georgia Pizzala
Photographer – Alex Waespi
Edited by Tayo Rapoport + anaiis
Color grade – Andi Chu + Tayo Rapoport
Poetry by Julian Knxx
Original score by anaiis & Aston Rudi
All music reimagined from anaiis’ this is no longer a dream album
Engineered and mixed by Aston Rudi
With special contributions from Ilê Aiyé, Onyx Collective, CKTRL, Josh Grant, Onome Edgeworth, Charlie Stacey, Josh Doughty
With Thanks To Polly Bussell, Hannah Kingwell, Jenna Mason, Nkechi Noel , Livia Turnbull
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