Adrian Sutherland’s innovative music videos continue to be celebrated by film festivals around the world, with two in official selection this week at the 47th American Indian Film Festival.  

Right Here and Magic Hits will both screen on Tuesday, November 8, as part of the Music Program at the Koret Auditorium in San Francisco. Both videos were created during the pandemic while Sutherland was cut-off from the rest of the world during two full years of isolation in his remote Northern Canadian home.   

ABOUT THE MUSIC VIDEOS  

The clever concept for Right Here was inspired by travel selfies, which typically depict an ever-changing world around a constant subject. For this video, Sutherland was tasked with capturing 1600 selfies on his iPhone over a period of six weeks. At first it seemed overwhelming, but once he got the hang of it, he was able to make some fun moments happen by getting family members in the shots, his hunting friends, one of his dogs, and even a great-horned owlet that he rescued a month earlier. 

Magic Hits is a split-screen performance with footage shot in three places – Attawapiskat ON, Toronto ON, and Nashville TN. The poignant music video presents Adrian on vocals, strolling and singing in his remote location while featured ‘alongside’ the legendary artists who perform on the track: Colin Linden (guitar), Janice Powers (organ), Gary Craig (drums), and John Dymond (bass). “There must be more to life than this, standing on the sidelines, waiting for the highlights, yah…” sings Sutherland while pensively contemplating his northern isolation.  

Right Here and Magic Hits were made by animator and filmmaker Justin Stephenson, with creative producer and production manager RoseAnna Schick, and Sutherland as executive producer. They are the same music video team behind the highly acclaimed Politician Man, which screened at last year’s 46th American Indian Film Festival, and won awards at several festivals including the 73rd Yorkton Film Festival, the 25th First Glance Film Festival Philadelphia, Moving Parts Film Festival, Indie Shorts Buenos Aires, Indie Shorts Miami, Phoenix International Short Film Festival, London Music Video Festival, and Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival.