Kyiv continues to gain recognition as a prominent production destination.
A music video shot in the Ukrainian capital has made it to the list of 100 greatest music videos of all time published by the U.S. magazine Rolling Stone on July 30.
The video for “Nobody Speak” by U.S. DJ Shadow and hip-hop duo Run the Jewels ranked 20th. It involved the Ukrainian production company Radioaktive Film.
“All of these picks are perfect examples of how pairing sound and vision created an entire artistic vocabulary, gave us a handful of miniature-movie masterpieces, and changed how we heard (and saw) music,” Rolling Stone wrote.
“Nobody Speak” was shot at Ukrainian House, an exhibition center located on Kyiv’s main Khreshchatyk Street. The Soviet building’s peculiar round-shaped hall provided a perfect setting for the video’s plot: a United Nations-like summit between multiple foreign delegations.
Directed by Sam Pilling of London-based production company Pulse, the piece also involved Radioaktive Film, Ukraine’s star production company. Radioaktive also worked on the award-winning HBO series “Chernobyl,” as well as commercials for Apple and Nike and music videos for Coldplay and Tame Impala.
The piece is a satirical political statement that came out in 2016, amid a divisive and intense presidential election in the U.S. It features politicians throwing rap punches at each other until the verbal conflict turns into a full-fledged fight.
“We wanted to make a positive, life-affirming video that captures politicians at their election-year best. We got this instead,” DJ Shadow joked upon the video’s released.
The video was a big hit and has attracted more than 45 million views since its release. It was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award in 2017 for best cinematography, losing to U.S. rapper Kendrick Lamar’s largely praised “Humble.”
The Rolling Stone made the ranking in honor of the 40th anniversary of MTV, a U.S. TV channel best known for broadcasting music videos.
The best music video in history, according to the magazine, is “Formation” by Beyoncé. It is followed by Johny Cash’s “Hurt,” Madonna’s “Vogue,” Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” and New Order’s “The Perfect Kiss.”
