House of Marley's The Get Together: NYC Lineup

As a tribute to its newly released wireless speaker as well as the history of portable audio, House of Marley enlisted four filmmakers to create a video piece that could speak to the very essence of this speaker and its ability to bring people together. For this installment, New York-based director Sam Fleischner explores the impact of music on the life’s of those struggling to exist in the chaotic world of a concrete jungle. Not only does music provide a sense of serenity, but as it is depicted above, it allows people to forget their differences and join hands in celebrating the simpler joys of life. Check out Fleischner’s short film above and be sure to read through our full interview with the director below.

For more on House of Marley’s Get Together Bluetooth speaker as well as how you could win your very own please visit here.

Can you introduce yourself?

Sam Fleischner, film director.

How did you get into filmmaking?

Westerns, believe it or not.

What was the goal behind your video? What was your inspiration?

Try to do something fun with the potential of a portable speaker. Dancing is good for health.

How does House of Marley differ from other brands?

Well in terms of making commercials, they were a great combination of supportive and hands off. They were also generous with their product and let me give each of the dancers one of the speakers.

When you were approached about the project, what was the direction given and then how did you approach your execution/interpretation?

This was a lot of fun for me because I got to come to write the concept myself. Usually with these kinds of jobs, the creative comes to you already developed to some extent so it was fun to start with the seed. I had three very different ideas that we were all excited about but we settled in the “line”. This process really picked up steam when I got Cynsei Sohbet on board. We worked out the choreography and flow together. She is a great leader, or in this case, “Rasta-fairy”.

How influential has music been in your creative evolution?

Music is one of my pillars. For this project I worked with my friend Matt Werth at RVNG. He hooked me up with the hypnotic Secret Circuit track that drives the piece.

When you’re not working on big brand campaigns, what sort of passion projects do you like to work on?

I spend a lot of time in my garden, and working on non-commercial feature films like Stand Clear of the Closing Doors.

How did you cast the subjects for this video? Each individual is so interesting because they don’t, at face value, look like they would be dancers yet they all have a strong motion and rhythm. Was that the intention?

Yea, that was part of the concept. Everyone’s got a groove in them but it can be hard to find sometimes.

Where was the filming done? It looks like an abandoned, really sterile bank or something.

It was filmed at Anthology Film Archives, which is sort of like a temple for experimental cinema, but originally the building was supposed to be a court house. They show some of the best film programs in the world there. I worked there as a projectionist when I first moved to NYC, so it was a really fun place to shoot.