Netflix’s ‘Anima’ to Combine the Awesome Powers of Paul Thomas Anderson and Thom Yorke

The denizens of Film Twitter exploded today when news broke that Netflix would be releasing a short film from Paul Thomas Anderson and Thom Yorke. The short musical film is called Anima, and will feature songs from Yorke’s upcoming album of the same name. The project will only run about 15 minutes long, but as an added bonus, it will also be playing in IMAX – for free.

Anima Trailer

Paul Thomas Anderson’s collaboration with Radiohead, and members of Radiohead, continues with Anima, a new Netflix project described as “a short musical film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke of Radiohead scores and stars in a mind-bending visual piece. Best played loud.” The short film – or “one-reeler”, as they’re calling it – will feature three tracks from Yorke’s upcoming album, also called Anima.

While you’ll be able to watch Anima from the comfort of your own home, Netflix is also giving viewers a chance to take it in on the biggest screen possible. A special one-night global IMAX event will take place on June 26, 2019 in select IMAX theaters. And best of all: you can go see it for free. Just head over here to reserve your tickets, provided it’s screening near you. The film will then hit Netflix on June 27 – the same day that Yorke’s album drops. Yorke has described Anima as “dystopian”, saying:

“The dystopian thing is one part of it, yes, but for me, one of the big, prevailing things was a sense of anxiety. If you suffer from anxiety it manifests itself in unpredictable ways, some people have over-emotional reactions. [For] some people the roots of reality can just get pulled out, you don’t know what’s happening. Then eventually reality comes back. For some reason I thought a really good way of expressing anxiety creatively was in a dystopian environment.”

Anderson has been directing music videos since the ’90s, but here are some recent Radiohead additions to his ever-growing line-up.