The Director
Aroma
Aroma is a 22 year old Oakland, California native. They have an eclectic history with self-taught art --- although directing is their primary focus, Aroma's creative journey began with visual arts such as drawing and surreal oil painting. A highlight of Aroma's directing career is their recent debut musical short film, ZoomBug, which premiered on i-D Magazine.
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Their passion is using art to create spaces in which people feel safe to heal and process together. Aroma, along with their family production team, aims to tell stories that allow audiences to experience and imagine new worlds while addressing the struggles within their current realities. Their work aims to deepen the roots of love and create a place for themselves, the artist, healers and those brave enough to open up to the boundless journey of creative exploration.
AROMA Production Team
Our team began as group of friends working on video projects together while falling in love with the process of film production. Over time, each person began to find themselves and grow more dedicated to their various artistic media— from fashion design to writing and cinematography. The team-turned-family has continually worked to curate beautiful shared experiences and community. A few years and a ten person production team later, they now look toward their most ambitious film yet: MoonBaby.
Photo by Theo Schear
The Director of Photography:
Hunter Cates
Hunter Cates is a 26 year old self-taught artist born in Key West, Florida. Though his mediums range from visual to musical arts, his primary focus is photography. Hunter has been a Bay Area resident for the past 13 years, where he has developed strong relationships within the young and thriving art community.
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Through his voice as an artist, he aspires to create environments through sight and sound that allow others to truly feel immersed in entirely new worlds. He has been involved with Aroma as one of their first and long-standing collaborators, also taking on the role as DOP for the ZoomBug Musical Short film which premiered on iD Magazine.