Stink Films’ Leo Aguirre Takes You on a Dream-like Journey in Promo for River Tiber’s ‘Hypnotized'

Leo Aguirre’s new music video for 'Hypnotized' by River Tiber (Tommy Paxton-Beesley) takes viewers on a dream-like journey of striking imagery. Aguirre and Paxton-Beesley closely collaborated on the video from conceptualisation to editing. The two explored everything from the pandemic to increasingly drastic climate disasters, data breaches and the extirpation of democracies around the world. The resulting theme is a hyperbolized, but potentially not so distant, reality; one in which hyper-surveillance is inescapable and it has become easier to live in a state of sedation.

 
The video stars Paxton-Beesley who plays a man wandering through a city as if in search of someone or something. In a myriad of shifting perspectives we see his character approach a strange sedation facility. Just as he is finally reunited with his lover, the video ends by revealing his character in a sedated dreamstate attached to an IV. Aguirre says on the Brave New World-esq video, “During the lockdown Tommy and I started discussing themes and got to talking about the lack of empathy that seemed to be at the surface of everything that was happening politically and socially. At the same time, Tommy’s music is inhabited by these mystical and romantic undertones so I really wanted to introduce a character that would in a way embody this hope; this elusive idea of love and hope that he is chasing.”