New York-based director Salomon Ligthelm is known for making ads for brands including Audi, and for his viral video Rocket Wars, about the explosive combat between rival Orthodox churches on the Greek island of Chios. Here, the filmmaker talks about his latest project, inspired by the music of Edinburgh-based hip hop trio Young Fathers, whose track Mr Martyr soundtracks the Super-16 film:

“On the surface, Mr Martyr might look like a film exploring the reality of gang violence, but for me, it's more an exploration of pretense. It’s about how we can bury ourselves in a culture or subculture, and lose who we are. 

“In the protagonist of the film, we see a man whose identity has been built around being the alpha male in Parisian gang culture, and who is desperately trying to hold onto that. It takes a pivotal life or death moment that he could either walk away from or engage in to unearth what is really beneath the veneer.”