All is Vanity

Marcos Mereles’ archly funny, endlessly inventive and reflexive puzzle piece explores a strange disappearance at a hip London fashion shoot.

An eccentric photographer, his eager assistant, a jaded make-up artist and a bored model gather for a fashion shoot in a London warehouse. But when one of their number disappears, events take a turn for the bizarre. Beginning as a deft, low-key satire of the hipster fashion world, before continually morphing into something different across its short, breathless runtime, Mereles’ debut feature exudes confidence, managing its many abrupt narrative and tonal changes with wit, control and humour.

Beautifully designed and shot, making elegant use of a sparse single location and talented cast, this is UK low-budget narrative feature filmmaking at its most formally exciting, resourceful and entertaining.