New Orleans-raised filmmaker Phillip Youmans’s music video for Michael Kiwanuka is a celebration of black joy and carefree, youthful exuberance.

The film follows a group of black teenagers who take LSD together on a glorious LA day. Comprised of interwoven surrealist vignettes, we see the friends living every moment to the fullest doing whatever makes them feel good.

Inspired by the ethereal, unruly nature of a psychedelic experience, Youmans and his cinematographer Gus Bendinelli have employed an active and unpredictable camera throughout the duration of Interlude (Loving The People). The film’s visual distortions and saturation intensify in tandem with the group’s trip. The limitless colour range and irreplaceable texture of Super 16 depict Southern California in all of its dynamic glory.

Youmans is best known for his award-winning debut feature Burning Cane, and is demonstrably a singular talent and one of the most exciting new voices in film. And he continues to shine a humanizing, nuanced light on Black stories to highlight Black joy in the Kiwanuka video. He allows his characters to let their hair down, let go of the pain and embrace the love.

“Listening to Michael Kiwanuka’s Interlude (Loving the People) feels like sunshine on my skin," Yeomans has commented. "This film is an escapist trip where young black people revel in the psychedelic experience. For me, Loving the People is about the adrenaline of unconfined love and joy, a celebration of black youth and imagination.”