Dazed and Gucci present Absolute Beginners

In partnership with Gucci

When was the last time you did something for the first time? Dazed and Gucci introduce Absolute Beginners, a short film series which sees nine creative talent do something they’ve never done before: get in the director’s seat. Watch all nine films – all starring the Gucci Jackie 1961 bag – below.

Explore the FW20 Gucci Jackie 1961 collection

Barry Keoghan’s Animal tells the story of a young, quiet boxer with a troubled upbringing embarking a journey to find himself, both in and out of the ring. Shot on black-and-white film, it’s a tale of brotherly love, masculinity and embracing the wildness within.

Arlo Parks’ knotted gold pays tribute to the work of seminal photographers Nan Goldin and Ren Hang, and is indebted to the style of legendary filmmaker Wes Anderson. But the poet and musician leaves her mark all over it, with an intimate narration creating a stillness and serenity on the shores of England

Lily Gavin’s The Companion is a story about the wondrous possibilities that lie inside a child’s mind. Left alone to his own devices – and a Jackie bag - a young boy finds a magical world filled with spiders and snakes.

Shot on Super 8, Onko Chishin is Yoshi’s exploration of self, a story told through the streets of the Tokyo district where he grew up. “Onko Chishin” is a Japanese saying that means “to learn from the culture and the backbone of the past to create something new-school”. The polymath tells a story of facing his fears and coming out the other side reborn.

Elle Fanning’s film – shot over two days in her house – centres around a whimsical, technicolour tea party. And when a dog gets a (Gucci) bone, its owner tries everything to win back its attention.

Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s short sees two characters chase each other across the California desert, where love soon threatens to bring them together.

In a rich, 16mm short, Jodie Turner-Smith is Jackie. Dressing up to stay in, Jackie is a woman alone – but never lonely. Whether eating dinner, touching up her lipstick, or putting on a gown to walk down to the pool, everything she does is for herself.

In the ruined temple of an abandoned Roman villa, a woman (played by director Benedetta Porcaroli) pursues a mysterious stranger – but finds only herself.

An homage to classic Westerns and an exploration of the complex bonds of family, Emma Corrin’s Red Rendezvous sees a mother and daughter reunite against a barren British landscape for an unexpected face-off.