Director Emily Kai Bock has joined Epoch Films. The NY-based filmmaker made her first major splash with her clip for Grimes’ “Oblivion” which became a viral and critical sensation in 2012, leading to it being selected to screen at World Short Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and LA Film Fest. Bock’s fine arts background heavily influences her unique documentary and portrait-like style. At the 2014 New York Film Festival, Paul Thomas Anderson screened “Oblivion” during his master-class on filmmaking, citing it as an influence on his film, Inherent Vice.
Bock’s most recent musical collaboration with pop savant Lorde, for her track “Yellow Flicker Beat” off of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay soundtrack, saw a striking study in film noir, depicting Lorde in a series of differently lit vignettes, varying from the soft light of a neon sign to the dark drama of the Jazz Age.
In The Arcade Fire’s “Afterlife,” Bock helmed an exquisitely enigmatic narrative where dreams and memories converge between three characters, centering on a father and two sons grappling with the death of their wife and mother. The video won the Prism Prize for Best Canadian Music Video and the 2014 UKMVA for Best Alternative Video. Bock has also created visuals for the likes of Grizzly Bear, Haerts, Sebastien Schuller, Kool Music 5, and Majical Cloudz.
Bock’s growing body of spot work includes such brands as Coca Cola, Diesel, and Coach. The director’s short film Punk Stories commissioned by Vogue for the 2013 MET Gala featured an army of Siouxsie Sioux-styled New York City Ballet dancers while her recent commercial for Coach reinvents the luxury brand into a cool portrait of modern New York, via the eyes of Pro Skateboarder Eli Reed.
Bock’s documentary short about the underground New York rap scene, Spit Gold Under An Empire, was commissioned by Nokia in partnership with Sundance TV and debuted at the 2013 Festival. A rhythmic tapestry with an ingenious blend of music video, documentary and film, Bock composes an unflinching portrait of the city’s vibrant new wave of hip hop.
Established in the music video and documentary arenas, Bock is looking to further diversify into commercialmaking and branded content via bicoastal/international Epoch Films, which is headed by founder Mindy Goldberg, and executive producers Melissa Culligan and Youree Henley.
