Tbilisi Collective

Hi Valentin, can you please tell me a bit about yourself? 

Hi! I am a nice, sympathetic guy with a lot of qualities (laughs). I am joking. I was born in Switzerland. My father is Swiss. He was born there, but he is half Italian and half Spanish. I do not really feel closely connected to family in Italy or Spain, though. My mother is French.

I first studied animation at an art school in Switzerland for one year. When I was eighteen, I moved to Paris to continue studying at LISAA — L’Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués. I had always loved drawing and watching films, so animation felt like the perfect combination of both. After graduating, I worked for four or five years in the animation industry, mainly in studios doing compositing. I truly enjoyed that period. At the same time, on weekends, I was always filming. I had friends in Switzerland who were rappers, so I started making music videos for fun, you know small side projects with my own camera. Then I began creating fashion videos as well, and gradually it became more professional. I was working five days a week in animation and shooting on weekends, sometimes traveling to Germany, Italy or Spain. Eventually I had to choose, because I would say, “Sorry, I cannot come in today, I have a shoot,” and that was not sustainable. 

During the COVID period, from 2020, I decided to try working as an independent director. It felt like the right moment to take the risk. And actually, it worked out quite naturally. I directed a fashion video for a magazine, and a music group saw it and contacted me. They were signed to Sony, so it was the first time I worked with a professional label and a full crew. That project became a turning point. After that, I began directing music videos regularly.

So, you said it was during the COVID period that you really began working on videos more seriously. Was that situational because of your friends, or was it always something you wanted to transition into from animation?

That is a very interesting question. I am not sure exactly. I think it is more about doing my own thing. I could have done my own projects in animation as well. I started directing music videos because I already had contacts, and fashion videos because I knew people who needed one. It could just as easily have been animation. In animation studios, I was usually part of a team of around fifty people working on a series or a larger project. I liked that environment, but it is different. As a director, I can make my own choices and develop my own visual style. It feels more personal. I still use a lot of special effects in my projects. Since I come from animation, I am naturally drawn to postproduction. I enjoy that part of the process very much. I still work with animation techniques, just not traditional television animation for children. Instead, I integrate animation into my own films and visual projects.

Was it a gradual shift? Or did you just say, “I am leaving my job to be a director”?

No, it was not really gradual. I had just finished a project in animation. In that industry, you usually do not stay in one company for a long time. It is always project based, a few months here, then you move to another studio. That is simply how it works. There is no permanent contract. So, the transition was not something I planned step by step. It was more that I finished a project and thought, instead of starting another one in animation, I would give myself one year to try directing independently and see what happens. And it worked out very well.

Was it challenging? Because the director is the one making the decisions. What is your process like?

I usually begin with meetings with the artists. We talk a lot about references, feelings, and intentions. After that, I create a mood board to define the visual direction. I often work with the same crew including Jules Le Masson Fletcher, my director of photography, as well as the same stylists, makeup artists, and choreographers. For me, it is very important to be surrounded by people I trust. It creates a safe space where everyone can focus on the creative part. That trust is essential.

What kind of projects do you prefer? 

I really like music videos. But in the last few years, maybe the past two, I have not done as many because the budgets have become smaller. Instagram and TikTok have changed the landscape. Not many people watch a four-minute music video anymore. It is very different from when I started six years ago. Back then, it was not so much about trends or algorithms. Last year I did two music videos, but they were vertical and about thirty seconds long, made for TikTok. And I felt that it was not what I wanted to do. I have nothing against TikTok videos, but they were not very artistic. For me, that is the most important thing, to create something artistic and visually strong.

And how do you think, as the years go by and we become even more attached to our devices, that this will affect the artistic side of things?

Actually, I try to choose only the music videos that I truly want to do. This year, I refused two projects. One of them had a budget of several dozen thousand euros, which was one of the biggest budgets I had been offered. But it felt very commercial. I know people who work in that direction, and that is completely fine, but I do not want to go in that direction. At first, I agreed to take on the project but then I had my doubts. So, finally, I called the label and told them, “I am very sorry, but it is not really my style.” After that, I felt incredibly relieved. Two months ago, I experienced something similar. I agreed to a project and then stepped back because it did not match me artistically. But now, in two weeks, I am directing a music video for a rock musician who is also signed to a label, and this time it feels right. We met twice and our styles align very well. I am genuinely excited to work on it.

Do you choose your projects based on the genre or the music itself?

Yes, of course, in a way, the music matters. But it is not only about genre. It is also about values and the overall message. For example, if someone sang about something extreme or problematic, I would immediately refuse. That would not even be a question. At the same time, I have directed music videos for songs that I did not personally love. When you are starting out, you tend to say yes to almost everything because you want experience. You want to try, to learn, to build something. Now, with more experience, I am much more selective. I pay attention not only to the sound, but to whether I feel a real connection to the project. That makes a big difference.

If somebody wanted to get into this field, would you recommend following the same path you did? Or are there mistakes you made that you would advise them to avoid?

I would actually recommend a similar path. It is important to go through different experiences. I had some very bad experiences as well, of course, but I learned much more from those than from the easy projects. When you are starting out, every project teaches you something about people, about yourself, about the industry.

So, are you more interested now in moving toward short films?

Yes, fictional films. I have many friends who are actors, and some of them are moving into directing fiction. Becoming a film director was not a childhood dream for me. But over the last few years, I have grown more interested in cinema. I realized how powerful it can be. One of my close friends made a short film that did very well at festivals, and now he is directing his first feature film this summer. Seeing that process inspired me. At the same time, I have been trying to develop my own short film for years. Writing is difficult for me because I never studied it. I studied animation, not film directing, so I never went to film school. That is why I am working with two friends who are writers. They are talented and understand storytelling much better than I do. We support each other creatively and try to build something together.