Stash 55 delivers 84 minutes of unpredictable inspiration with 34 head-snapping clips plus behind the scenes extras and six bonus MP3 tracks.

The main program opens with Smith & Foulkes’ isometric and musical tribute to the convenient life for Comcast, Daniel Kleinman and Framestore put a new edge on the streets of San Francisco for Audi, Fin Design demonstrate the strange and wonderful potency of Tasmanian water for Lion Nathan, Buck Stepps up for a pair of nightmarish anti-smoking spots, Psyop takes a turn to the dark side and reveal a few inner demons for Electronic Arts, before Sehsucht unfolds a surprising little Rorschach experiment for German erotic channel Beate Uhse.

The broadcast and title design section on 55 screams off the line with La Huella and Fox Sports Design teaming up for the new NASCAR promo, then navigates a set of sharp curves through Mainframe’s international rebrand for Nick, E&P’s delicate and calming interludes for Thai transportation channel On Route, Superestudio’s ambitious AXN Film Fest graphics package, and Addikt’s jarring FITC Amsterdam titles.

Then we switch gears into a series of longer-form works: Reuben Sutherland takes retro gaming to the extreme in the new video for Röyksopp, Dublin’s D.A.D.D.Y. mashes together antique Harryhausen footage and campy VFX for Bloc Party, Vinicius Costa and Animatorio pack up a delightful multimedia short through Special Guest, Sydney College of the Arts student Jin Lau mines his memories to illustrate a deeply personal short called “If Trees Could Speak”, French director Xavier Chassaing assembles 35,000 digital stills into his fully innovative film “Scintillation”, Kenny Frankland and his TinSpider studio elevate a simple printer jam into riveting visuals for drum and bass outfit Mistabishi, before SoMe and Mathematic roto up a psychotropic adventure for Kid Cudi and Nabil Elderkin and Ghosttown Media set about moshing some data for Kanye West.

From there we steer toward Heaven [ or Hell if you like ] thanks to a Baroque new video art piece installed in the elevators at the Standard Hotel in New York conceived by director Marco Brambilla and crafted by Toronto’s Crush.

The cruise to the finish of 55 starts with Boolab’s music-driven 3D abstractions raising awareness and funding for Alzheimer’s, then veers into the express lane to catch clips from Mr. Hyde for Citroen (on the cover), from Logan for Lexus, and from Superfad for NASCAR, before Psyop eases us into the inky world of T Rowe Price, Curious Pictures transforms Nike women into super heroines with help from Humouring the Fates and Zoink Animation, and Stash newcomer Blirp introduce themselves with a burst of character and color.

The final film on Stash 55 was created by four students in their final six months at Supinfocom in Valenciennes, France. A fresh take on coming of age tales, “Gary” is a masterful exploration of character as charming as it is visually inventive

The BONUS FILMS on Stash 55 are the first six of 17 brand new works in PSST!3, the latest incarnation of Bran Dougherty-Johnson’s adventure in collaborative motion art. Stash is pleased to present all of the PSST!3 films spread over issues 55, 56 and 57.

The BEHIND THE SCENES line-up on 55 includes insightful features on five projects including NASCAR “Underground” from Fox Sports Design and La Huella, “Special Guest: The Journey” from Vinicius Costa and Animatorio, Kid Cudi “Day'n'nite” from SoMe and Mathematic, the Alzheimer “Minds” spot from Nico Casavecchia and Boolab and the “Civilization” video installation from Marco Brambilla and Crush.

Running time: 84 minutes