RUINS PRESENTS A FULLY LOADED TECHNICOLOR DREAMSCAPE IN THIS ORIGINAL ANIMATION FROM GALEN PEHRSON, FEATURING JENA MALONE, ROSE McGOWAN, GEMMA WARD AND JAMES FRANCO, WHILE SOUNDTRACK FEATURES MUSIC BY DAFT PUNK, DEATH GRIPS, FUTURE ISLANDS AND DEVENDRA BANHART.

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or our launch we commissioned director Galen Pehrson to create an exclusive hand-drawn animation piece that merges art and entertainment, and shatters the mold of traditional short formats. The resulting Caged Pillows is a pioneering medium that speaks to a highly interactive world where media and human contact are opposing forces, and, in turn, is a cornerstone piece for the tenets of Ruins itself—artistically and thematically.

“On the surface, The Caged Pillows is a story about the way we’ve come to communicate, removing ourselves from human touch, alone but together,” explains Pehrson, who was raised in the woods and off the grid in Nevada City, CA. “Screens feed us standards—from the media, from each other—and project images that define what success, happiness, and beauty look like.”

The psychedelic narrative follows the paths of Ediza (voiced by Jena Malone), a nocturnal teenage cat who lives in the suburbs, and Monday (Rose McGowan), a glamorous city-dwelling actress duck who represents the lifestyle of your dreams—James Franco lends his talents as a boilerplate upbeat talk-show host, while Gemma Ward is the siren song of a hypnotic late night commercial. Interwoven with Pehrson’s compelling imagery throughout is a soundtrack featuring music by Daft Punk, Death Grips, Future Islands, and Devendra Banhart.

The work was also crafted to be an interactive piece that extends beyond the video itself—it invites the audience to connect and contribute to the World of The Caged Pillows across social media and a unique 1-844-ASTRAL LOANS hotline, which launched with the exclusive release of “Trash” by Death Grips.

“As the director, I don’t offer the answers,” says Pehrson. “Instead I abstractly approach the topic as a media-oriented Guernica; I present the topics, characterize the subjects, and let the viewer create their own internal dialogue.”

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