“The thing I enjoy the most is making movies, but I also take great pleasure in bringing songs to life with cool music videos,” said Juwal.
Earlier this year Juwal produced and directed the music video for famed Israeli singer/songwriter Guy Barak’s single “Ad Hadad.” After hearing the song, Juwal admits that he was, ‘flooded by overwhelming feelings of freedom and happiness,” and what better way to visually representing those feelings than through a road trip narrative!
As the producer of the video, Juwal went to extensive efforts to find the perfect locations and bring together a strong cast and crew. Juwal purposefully shot half of the music video in California, where he currently lives, and the other half in Israel. The artist wanted the video for “Ad Hadad” to contain a strong narrative, one which Juwal shot in Joshua Tree, CA, as well as a live performance; and, seeing how Barak resides in Israel, traveling there to shoot the performance was really the only option for Juwal in order to nail the project.
“I wanted to create a piece that fitted the tone and mood of the song... I drew the biggest inspiration from Tim Berg's ‘Seek Bromance’,” Juwal explained. Adding, “[The music video] received thousands of views and helped Guy lunch his new album, also titled ‘Ad Hadad’.”
After the positive reception he received as the producer and director of the “Ad Hadad” video, Juwal, although he is still working on several upcoming film projects, made it a point to continue riding the music video wave; and so he took the initiative to discover other artists that he would ideally like to produce and direct music videos for.
Juwal says, “I recently got really into the Synth wave genre, which was extremely popular in the 80's and is slowly starting to come back thanks to films & shows like ‘Drive,’ ‘It Follows’ and ‘Stranger Things.’ I figured that there is no better way to kickstart my music video career than with a song that I really like.”
With that in mind, Juwal approached the Liverpool-based artist Kalax, who’s song “The Ride” perfectly fit the bill. After seeing Juwal’s past work, Kalax was instantly on board. Kalax’s song “The Ride” has already been featured online by DRIVE Radio, Digital Mass and E Radio-- the buzz that has resulted around the song from this alone makes it the perfect time for the music video to be released.
Juwal is slated to begin producing and directing the music video for Kalax’s song “The Ride” around LA at the end of June, with locations spanning Beverly Hills, Malibu, Downtown LA, Angeles Crest Highway, The Griffith Observatory and LACMA Museum.
Juwal explains, “The song has a strong feeling of adventure and I want to bring that to the screen by filming in some of the most iconic scenic spots in the LA area.”
Later this year Juwal is also slated to produce and direct the music video for the artist Valu’s song “Quiet.” While the song depicts the lyrical story of a broken relationship, Juwal prefers to maintain a strong distance from that overdone cliche in terms of the video’s visual narrative.
He explains, “I wanted to give it a little twist instead of shooting a boring boy leaves girl video so we decided to shoot a narrative with kids instead of adults. It's gonna have strong tonal similarities to ‘Stranger Things’ both visually and story wise.”
Juwal is slated to begin production as the producer and director of Valu’s upcoming music video in August, which will be shot around Los Angeles. Thanks to his extensive experience in the film world, Juwal, who is represented by Parimore Entertainment, brings a unique vision to the music videos he produces and directs. His capacity to create a strong narrative that fits the artist’s song is definitely one of the driving forces behind his success in the field.
Early on in his career Juwal produced and directed the award-winning film “Castor,” which brought to life the story of an Israeli Army dog handler who takes his dying canine companion for one last walk into the desert before having to put him down. As the producer of the film Juwal managed to secure filming locations across Israel, as well as pull in local hires to make the film happen.
Visually engaging and emotionally powerful, “Castor’s” touching story earned Juwal international attention for his skill, with the film going on to take home the Best Foreign Film Award from the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival, nominations at the Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival and the Madrid International Film Festival, as well as being chosen as an Official Selection of the St. Tropez International Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Silver Springs International Film Festival and others.
Last year Juwal made a huge impact in the U.S. film industry with his sci-fi film “Visitors” starring Kei’la Ryan (“Bad Friends & Family,” “Kingdom,” “Night Crawlers”), Nick Unger (“Front Seat Chronicles,” “Phil of the Future”) and Tim Juliano. The film earned Juwal the Festival Award for Best Director of a Sci-Fi short at the New York City International Film Festival, the Honorable Mention Award from the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, and was chosen as an Official Selection of the Phoenix Comicon Film Festival, USA Film Festival, Vail Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival.
A riveting and suspenseful sci-fi film that depicts the story of two siblings returning home to their estranged father’s house for dinner one evening where the tensions are high, Visitors is full of twists and turns that the audience will never expect. Over the course of the film Juwal uses specific devices to subtly allow viewers further access into the world of the characters’ past-- but he’s careful to keep the turning point of the film a secret until the climax occurs. His methodical approach in presenting the story within “Visitors,” which makes it impossible to turn away from the screen, is the reason for the film’s international success.
With an established repertoire of work as a film producer and director that also includes the films “Four Tires,” “Claw Hammer,” “The One That Got Away,” “Cleansing” and more, Alon Juwal has managed to flawlessly translate his talent for bringing powerful and visually intriguing film narratives to the screen to the world of music videos. We eagerly await the release of the upcoming music videos for Kalax’s “The Ride” and Valu’s “Quiet,” as they’re assured to be something special.