Winning SXSW with Saman Kesh and Sarah Park

No one was more convinced that they wouldn’t win the music video competition at SXSW than Saman Kesh. Not only did he think there were better videos than his, he has won already, in 2010 for “Luv Deluxe” by Cinnamon Chasers, so in his head that was enough to keep him from winning again. Obviously, he was wrong, because his video for “Stamina” by Vitalic won the music video competition, meaning we got to take pictures with his award. We already chatted with Saman about the video a few months ago when it came out, but we wanted to talk to him again, along with producer Sarah Park, about what it means to them to have a winning video at SXSW.

Doug: I'd like to start by asking you why you decided to enter you video into SXSW. Obviously, you’ve entered several years now consecutively, but why did you decide to enter this year and why did you choose the "Stamina" video?

Saman: I submitted two videos, because [SXSW shorts programmer] Claudette, whom I’ve known since the first time I was at SXSW in 2010, is a big fan of keeping in contact. She’s definitely against the whole Sundance mentality of formal submissions, she really likes to have directors send them stuff that they’re up to. She’s a big fan of promoting, but on top of that, she just likes good videos. She doesn’t really keep up with who is big in the music video world and doesn’t really know who the bigger directors are. So to me it was like a very nice way of saying that she just looks at the content. The videos are very interesting because some of them, you think, "Oh, these videos are just common and not up to snuff," but I think her mentality is to encourage the people who aren’t there yet and facilitate the people who are getting there or are there. That’s why you have such an obvious split between what’s good and what’s not, the things that make you think, "Whoa, this is just some kid who’s aspiring to be a video guy." I turned in Vitalic video and the dEUS video, because she was a huge fan of the Jesus video. A lot of snarky Texan love that kind of like making fun of Christians shit. She really liked it, but once I showed her the Vitalic video, she was like, "Holy fuck, you better be submitting this." 

I really did not expect to win. Every time I went in, post the first year I won, I thought "I’m not going to win again." That just doesn’t happen. I just go so I can hang out with people and get a free pass. The one thing about being in LA with a lot of other directors and producers and people in this industry is that you don’t have time to hang out very often, at least in the personal way that you want to. It’s usually just connected work. So there’s something about going to Texas to hang out with all those same people and it makes it fun. It’s a good experience to hang out with people and bond and not have to think about work. That’s why it was so shocking to win, because it was just like not correct. When I walked up there, a lot of people told me after, "You looked like you were sick." I was trying to put it together why this was happening.

Doug: Yeah, I was sitting in front of you and you were completely shocked. You mentioned thinking somebody else was going to go up there. Was that basically the only thing that was going through your head as you were walking up? Just shock and disbelief that it was you?

Saman: Yeah. My friend Joey, who was there with me, had to tell me I won. We were actually in the process of leaving because we were missing a screening. Then when they said the name, they said it all weird and I thought, "Who’s that?" Then Joey looked up and saw my name and he said, "Oh my God dude, you need to go up there."

Doug: I didn't even know that's how it worked with you getting to go up there and say stuff. Was that how it worked the last time you won as well?

Saman: Yeah, it did. "Luv Deluxe" had a lot smaller of a crew, so there was a lot less people to thank and they were actually with me up there. This time I think the only name I gave specifically was Sarah’s, but I thanked everybody. You just don’t get a chance to thank for music videos, you saw how it was in the awards. Music videos are breezed through with the shorts to get to the feature stuff. They know what people go to SXSW for, like the music videos are sort of the stepchild. Even though it’s on paper, and on the web, and you get an LA Times picture of your face - my mom keeps bragging that I’m in the LA Times - it's still breezed through, which is kind of ridiculous. That’s just how it is. 

Doug: Sarah, what was your reaction when you found out the video won? Since you weren't actually there at the awards.

Sarah: I did a lot of thanking of all the people that made it. It was a really tough shoot, so when I heard the news, I just started texting everyone I knew and thanking everyone I knew that worked on it because it was a joint effort. I know a lot of people don’t really watch music videos outside the community, but just to see that and that kind of recognition, even my parents who don’t know anything about music videos know it was big. It’s a nice recognition and it’s a nice hats off to the art of music videos and I think that’s what’s really cool about it.

Doug: Now that the video has won this award, do you consider the video to be more successful than you did a month ago?

Sarah: I don’t know if it’s more successful, but hopefully more people will take a look at it. There’s mixed reviews and mismatches to it, but that’s what’s great about it. A lot of people watch it and it invokes some kind of reaction that’s strong, whether they hate it, or like it, or are just confused by it. That stuff makes it fun and it shows it’s a success that people are reacting to it.

Saman: I don’t find success comes from winning something, because it sort of degrades the other videos that didn’t win anything when those were massively successful as well. In fact, a lot of those videos have had more views and more recognition than this video. Neither of those reasons, whether recognized or not, is why it won. I’m just grateful for the fact that the jurors saw really good videos and decided to choose this one as the best one. I’ll never know why. I know they’re probably sick and demented fuckers, but I’ll never know exactly what their personal reasons, when they got into a room and decided "should we hang him or not hang him?" I don’t know why they decided to hang me.

Doug: Have you guys seen any additional attention or congratulations from winning?

Saman: I don’t think so, no. I haven’t gotten many extra posts. It’s usually just about the actual winning, I don’t think there’s any re-featuring of it. Some of that is just due to the fact that most of the video industry people have seen it, so that wouldn’t be featuring it. Even the last time I won at SXSW, all my recognition came from just people wanting to book jobs, or work with me, sign me, or whatever. Congrats and stuff is enough for us, because we work so hard and I think people are a little bit stubborn and don’t want to admit that other people did a good job sometimes. I know that I have that feeling sometimes, so I know that other directors probably have that feeling, so it feels good when they’re so compelled to bypass that and tell you awesome job.