Nigerian Dance Duo Ebinum Brothers’ Video Is an Otherworldly Ode to Nature and Transformation

Sibling Rivalry director Benjamin Nicolas has worked with performance duo Ebinum Brothers –  Nigerian-born artistic communicators who've worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar – to direct the music video for ‘A Better World’, the duo’s debut music release.

Parisian born, Montreal-based Sibling Rivalry director Nicolas discovered Ebinum Brothers on Instagram through their collaboration with Montreal composer Patrick Watson. “I shot dancers before, but when I saw them they really moved me,” Benjamin explains.

“We were immediately drawn to his body of work and felt a strong creative connection with him,” say the Ebinum Brothers on their collaboration with Benjamin. “Benjamin's ability to understand, translate and merge our vision with his was remarkable. His insights complemented our own, and the synergy between us was incredible, making the creative process both effortless and exciting.”

Visualising resilience

The overarching concept for the video uses the scarab beetle as a metaphor. “In Egyptian mythology, the scarab beetle, or Khepri, is believed to roll the sun across the sky, symbolising the cycle of life, death, and renewal,” Benjamin explains.

“In the story, its presence brings profound change, symbolizing inner introspection and the journey toward self-reconstruction and resilience. The visual representation of these themes echoes the spiritual light and transformative power embodied by the Ebinum Brothers in their art."

The colour green is used throughout the video – both in the landscape and in its peppering with surreal shots using green liquid – as a reference to people’s relationship with the earth, drawing from the Ebinum Brothers’ dance pieces and what Benjamin saw as “their connection with the ground, and with roots – with nature”. He adds that the video looked to show the two brothers as an otherworldly “entity”, entirely removing them from the idea of who they are as people in their normal life.

Turning restrictions into creative advantages

The shoot mainly used a team of just five people, including the brothers themselves, as well as line producer Eliza Lewis (“she’s super talented,” says Nicolas), and Dune splinter director of photography (DOP) Kristof Brandl (usually the crew for a music video comprises at least 20 people). “If you want to achieve this level of exigence and ambition with a small team, you need to select them well and use it to your advantage in the process itself,” says the director.

Benjamin had previously collaborated with Kristof on projects including his short films BEAST and WANDA – which have received international awards at festivals – and the pair were keen to 'create instinctively' on the Ebinum Brothers shoot. To do this, they chose to use two 'tiny' Sony FX3 cameras, inspired by 2023 film The Creator – a big-budget Hollywood movie shot with $4,000 cameras. “You can get a lot more done in a short space of time because these cameras enable you to be more flexible – you’re more connected to the process, and there’s more room for improvisation because you can react faster,” says Benjamin.

The video was shot over four days on a remote mountain in Wales and in London in November 2023, meaning weather conditions were challenging: the team battled high winds, hail, mud, and ice storms. “It was incredibly physically engaging, but the team were all troopers,” says Benjamin. “It was intense, but at the end of the day that’s what creates the strongest images.”

Making with meaning

Throughout the process the director engaged in discussions with Darren Foldes, partner and head of films at Sibling Rivalry, about the craft of filmmaking, “which was really meaningful to the project,” says Benjamin.

“If I can, I want to make films that make people think, or rethink, about their lives: for the Ebinum Brothers film, I didn’t just want to – I had to. They obviously have a strong look and we were shooting them in beautiful scenery, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted to keep it poetic and metaphorical, but also make something that has meaning; giving a sense of hope – showing the power of music and dance and art in the process of self-reconstruction.”

“We consider this project the perfect collaboration because it was a true meeting of minds,” say the Ebinum Brothers. “The story we wanted to tell and the essence of who we are were flawlessly brought to life in the video. Benjamin's direction and artistic vision combined with our own resulted in a piece that not only conveyed our message but also embodied our identity.”

Darren adds: “Benjamin’s work is unified by the way he really taps into the subject matter, finding the best version of the story to tell and then telling it with such grace. From his Children’s Hospital spots to his Gerber ad to his short film BEAST, he has worked on such a broad range of projects using a lot of different techniques, but he does justice to every story he tells.”

‘A Better World’ premiers globally July 12th and is available across all major streaming platforms.