Harmony Korine teams up with Burial for new film Baby Invasion

Director Harmony Korine is diving into the unexplored depths of cinema once more with his new feature Baby Invasion, which reportedly received an eight-and-a-half-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend (August 31). Described by Korine as a “base layer film” which will be linked to other movies through a series of codes embedded within, Baby Invasion follows a group of baby mask-wearing criminals as they steal from society’s elite, and features an exclusive soundtrack from mysterious British electronic producer Burial.

The film follows Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft, which debuted at Venice Film Festival last year. Shot entirely on infrared and featuring Texan rapper Travis Scott in a leading role, Aggro Dr1ft reportedly received one of Venice’s longest-ever standing ovations at ten minutes, whilst also seeing some audience members walk out entirely during its more graphic scenes.

Baby Invasion continues this provocative approach to cinema, with scenes from the film based on CCTV footage of real-life burglaries, and some of its cast being actual criminals. “Some of the cast were actually people that tried to rob a lot of friends of mine,” Korine announced at the film festival. “Once they were arrested, we cast them and it just added that extra sense of reality.”

Harmony Korine lighting up a big cigar and a man in a neon face mask. Yes, it must be the BABY INVASION press conference. pic.twitter.com/AcTu7wWv5H

— Alex Ritman (@alexritman) August 31, 2024

As the film’s credits rolled and the audience broke into applause, Korine is reported to have danced on-stage to the closing soundtrack created by enigmatic UK producer Burial. While endeavouring to not reveal too much about the mostly anonymous electronic artist, whose debut self-titled LP is widely regarded as a core text in UK dubstep canon, Korine did explain that he had never met Burial in person. Instead, all communication was said to have taken place over Discord or PS5, with the final masters being delivered via the game console.

Burial himself has largely maintained anonymity throughout his career. His prodigal run in the mid-00s prompted a frenzy to uncover the producer’s true identity, with suspects at the time ranging from Aphex Twin to Four Tet. While Burial’s identity was ultimately revealed by The Independent in 2008 as South Londoner William Bevan, which was subsequently confirmed by his Hyperdub record label, the producer has chosen to remain out of the limelight ever since – a choice which seems to have become increasingly common in recent years.