Directed by artistic collective Kinopravda, PTS is the debut musical offering from Budapest-based producer Gloria (aka Krisztina Dányi) with a sardonic take on the cycle of misery that is global affairs. Gloria administers PTS like a sonic antidote to dangerous political posturing, the tragedy of climate change, and the car crash that was 2020.
In this music video, deepfake footage emerges of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Angela Merkel (with cameos from Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos) who see something on social media that inspires them to put aside their war-mongering and bickering and broker for world peace.
These haunting deepfake images of leaders sliding into each other's DMs strikes the lighthearted, even idealistic, tone that Gloria was gunning for. “I believe the world to be meaningful and meaningless at the same time,” says Gloria, reflecting on the wry yet sincere mood of the film. "My heart was broken. I had to create something to believe in because there was nothing left to believe in. I had to create [the film's protagonist] to heal myself."
Gloria wrote and recorded the track in her home studio in Budapest but she is far from insular, she picks her collaborators brilliantly. Márk Moldvai, a founding member of the seminal Hungarian band Neo, engineered the track, and trance legend Oliver Lieb mastered it. Coupled with beautifully shot 16mm video, PTS is indicative of an artist simmering with great ambition.