French Producer Rone Unveils Stunning New Spike Jonze Short Film “Ghosts”

Press release:

Ghosts’ is a short film and collaborative project by a coalition of artists operating at the peak of their respective fields. Featuring performances by the dancers of Ballet National de Marseille, it was directed by pioneering dance collective (LA)HORDE, soundtracked by acclaimed French producer RONE, and scripted by the visionary filmmaker Spike Jonze. The film follows (LA)HORDE’S earlier collaboration with RONE, on ‘Room With A View’, the musician’s 2020 show at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and sees the dance collective extend their ongoing artistic exploration of uprising and rebellion through the lens of movement and dance.

Set and filmed in the Fine Arts Museum of the Palais Longchamp in Marseille, Jonze’s script follows a single, apparently invisible protagonist as she meets a cast of similarly invisible characters, all trapped within the grand, deserted building. Moving, hesitantly at first, through the space, our protagonist passes from solitude and threatening physicality to states of rapture and intimacy. The film ends with a sudden collapse of the division between fantasy and reality when our protagonist meets the solitary night guard, who exits the museum at daybreak, possessed.

Perhaps unconventionally, (LA)HORDE’s choreography was not created to fit any soundtrack; instead RONE’s music was composed to accompany the silent footage. As well as a new challenge, ‘Ghosts’ offered a once in a lifetime opportunity for RONE to work alongside Spike Jonze, who the musicians calls ‘an idol of my adolescence.’ Crafted around an undulating, rhythmic core, RONE’s soundtrack is a lesson in restrained, growing kinetic energy that builds carefully towards a final, exhilarating peak. Organic and tactile, sounds are constructed from glitches and static, as invisible limbs comb through empty air. RONE’s music seems to emanate from the bodies of the dancers themselves.

The release of the short film is associated with the release of a three-track single including two versions of the original theme and an unreleased track featuring French SF writer Alain Damasio.