A bold new film by director Daisy Zhou from Great Guns marks the debut of Aston Martin’s newest model and first ever SUV, the Aston Martin DBX. Built at the new Aston Martin St Athan production facility in South Wales, DBX takes the qualities and characteristics that have defined the brand for over a century to a whole new level.
Daisy Zhou is the third contemporary artist to collaborate with Aston Martin on an exclusive launch film. This series began with Rankin’s striking presentation of the Aston Martin Vantage and was followed by Nick Knight’s menacingly beautiful film of the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera.
Zhou grew up in both Shanghai and Newtown, Pennsylvania, and went on to study filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her thesis short, ‘How to Be a Black Panther’, won the Audience Award at the 2015 Brooklyn International Film Festival. It was followed by a piece for Nike on contemporary dance. ‘It was more feminine take on the brand, instead of being about basketball and soccer,’ she says. In addition to that film, Zhou’s portfolio includes commercial projects for Lincoln, Chanel and Victoria’s Secret. She has also worked on music videos for artists including Mykki Blanco, James Blunt and Banks, as well as fashion films and documentaries.
For Aston Martin, Zhou explores light, dynamism and emotion, drawing on her own memories of childhood to express the innate qualities of a particular place and time. ‘For me, DBX describes a feeling of defiance, like an animal in a cage it is pacing and growling, about to jump out and leap free,’ she says. The film epitomises the curiosity that drives her work and the emotion, rhythm and passion she evokes through light, which in turn animates the
