Director Cyprien Clément-Delmas’ latest foray is the music video for French alternative artist Basile Di Manski.

Sound and image combine admirably to not only entertain, but also raise questions about our relationship with the environment. With incredibly stylish cinematography, the video uses real footage of contaminated environments as the backdrop for Di Manski’s cartoonish performance. 

Clément-Delmas, like other contemporary filmmakers, understands that we can’t simply repeat the same message about climate change, “we need to invent new ways to talk about pollution and global warming. We can’t only talk about it in dramatic ways. People are progressively less and less impressed or scared even if at the same time they are more and more conscious of the problem.” The new Netflix documentary-series Our Planet for example, deals with the dichotomy of vivacity and nostalgia as a powerful way to capture the viewers’ attention. 

Before the World on the other hand, uses comedy to shock. Laden with dark humor, the video pushes all the right buttons, as it elicits strong emotional responses and makes us ponder our own attitude towards pollution. For Clément-Delmas “it represents […] the way we act collectively. In a way, we pollute with a smile on our face. We seem to ignore the consequences of global warming.”

Check it out!