BRTHR unofficially formed in 2010, when Lee and Wightman met in the film program at New York City’s School of Visual Arts. But it isn’t a school project gone right. In many ways, the institution catalyzed a rebellion: the duo dropped out after two years. Then, they tell me, the good stuff really started. And that stuff—the music videos in India, trashing L.A. hotels with rappers, commissions for Facebook—is the sum of independent study and YouTube tutorials. Their highly technical, elaborately glitchy style is among the most-imitated in pop culture today. Yet, as Wightman confesses: “Program-wise, I didn’t learn anything in film school.” Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
Now 25 and 26, respectively, Lee and Wightman are riding the high of an incredibly productive 2017. They’ve just finished their first campaign for adidas Originals, which features Playboi Carti, Young Thug, and 21 Savage. They recently published a commercial spot for Yves Saint Laurent. And perhaps most impressively, they have much more in store. Sitting in Lee’s Williamsburg condo in Brooklyn, we discussed their distinctive style, staying a step ahead of imitators, and what the future of directing is—when everyone has a camera.
BRTHR for Hypebeast Magazine
what: a q & a with the international directorial duo.
when: published january 2018.
intro:
There’s an iconic scene in The Matrix in which Neo, after his eyes convulse for a few seconds, learns the entire discipline of Kung-Fu. Can you imagine the thrill of absorbing that much information—not a mere concept, but its infinite subtleties—instantaneously? Well, that’s what it’s like watching a music video by BRTHR. “If you were to stop one of our videos at any time,” Kyle Wightman explains, “there would still be a composed frame.” Wightman is one half of the Brooklyn-based directorial duo, the other half being Alex Lee.
