The Dublin artist Jafaris has returned with a surreal short film SYS (Sell Your Soul) that 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.”
Part music video, horror film, dance video and experimental short film Sell Your Soul “explores the moral implications of achieving artistic success in a world dominated by social media and the pressure of the attention economy.”
Directed by Ignas Laugalis, Sell Your Soul addresses Gen Z’s desire for relevancy and the impact the quest for fame and recognition, in a world where according to a recent survey, nearly 75% of young people between the ages of 6 and 17 say that they want to become YouTubers.
“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 Chamburuka aka Jafaris explains.
Watch the film and more on it below.
WARNING: The clip contains scenes of blood and violence.
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.
