An experimental, genre-bending short film, SYS is a dance film, a horror flick and a music video all rolled into one. It explores the moral implications of achieving artistic success in a world dominated by social media and the pressure of the attention economy.

How much would you sacrifice to achieve your ambitions? Told via a surreal montage of strange and shifting images, Sell Your Soul depicts the psychological journey of an up-and-coming artist as he moves through the various stages of his career - revealing fantasies of fame, glamour and success.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

“Temptation turns you. It makes you into something you never dreamed of, it presses you to give up everything you ever loved, it calls you to sell your soul for one, fleeting moment.[..] It makes you ache...you'll make any promise, swear any oath. For one...perfect...unsoiled taste”, - Sarah MacLean.

In his latest short film, Sell Your Soul, director Ignas Laugalis worked closely with Percy Chamburuka (the artist better known as Jafaris) to explore the ambitions of gen z in a society where relevance has become more important than currency. But how much is our hero willing to sacrifice in order to achieve his dreams?

From personal experience, Percy notes: “Having met some of the people I looked up to I can feel a genuine airiness, almost like a dark energy the deeper I get into the industry.” Stardom has had a major impact on our celebrities, exacerbated by their lifestyles. Time and time again, we’ve witnessed the ways in which the industry eats artists up and spits them out. Elvis, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse - it’s a tale as old as the industry itself.

With our film, we set out to ask the question: how will this impact the current generation of teens growing up with platforms like Youtube, Instagram and Only Fans? Platforms where one’s boundaries and limits are pushed further and further - all in the pursuit of going viral and becoming the next big thing. “I myself started to feel a sense of un-contentment, ego boost and an infatuation with praise and admiration. I can imagine the more you desire for those things that feed your ego the more you search for how to maintain them, which I believe will lead most people into a place of losing their purest self entirely, simply because the limelight is so addictive.” Percy explains.

The addiction to staying relevant can push one's boundaries further and further each time - causing an individual to end up in a place where they no longer recognize themselves. They might find themselves performing actions and making decisions that would never have made otherwise. The sparkle and glitter of a glamorous lifestyle can entirely paralyze any forethought or rational thinking.

According to a recent survey, nearly 75% of young people between the ages of 6-17 say that they want to become YouTubers. This is a revealing commentary on this new generation of fame-hungry children and teens. Sell your Soul illustrates how this new generation have become slaves to a largely fictitious lifestyle - a lifestyle of glamour and material success constructed and peddled by their celebrity idols.”

-Ignas Laugalis