Quella Fiamma from Grind Mind is the creepiest, most creative and all-out cool opera video I’ve seen all year.

Okay, admittedly it’s not a crowded field. It may be the only opera video I’ve seen all year. My bad; I’m clearly missing out. Quella Fiamma is a fantastic piece of short film work. Right from the opening it is intriguing; you know something is about to unfold and you want to see what it is. I think one of the reasons it works so well are the strong, memorable visuals and smart use of lighting and colour.

The video is directed, shot and edited by Shane Mills, the aria is sung by Christopher Dunn and features St. John’s-based visual artist, curator, and drag performer Kai Bryan.

The piece was produced for A Good Mess Opera Theatre’s October 2021 offering A Good Haunting, Vol 1.

Definitely worth checking out.

Also worth checking out is Kai Bryan’s video art on Youtube (start with Runs in the Family and explore from there). Also pay attention to their drag work as /garbagefile and with drag collective the Phlegm Fatales.

So much good stuff.