“The first work I saw of Valentin Petit’s was the video he did for A$ap Ferg (Floor Seats). This was a few years before ever meeting him or knowing who he was.
I noticed a few things: first, the attention to detail… every moment, micro and macro, came with intention and specific energy. Clearly, this person was a genuine lover of the craft.
Second: the casting of characters & storytelling – he was a lover of people, fascinated by fellow humans.
The third thing, though, was what really pushed me to reach out when the opportunity came. It was this defiance – a fuck-you to the rules of gravity that I saw in his visuals. There was an air of freedom and playfulness and pure instinct that so few can translate to cinema gracefully.”
I noticed a few things: first, the attention to detail… every moment, micro and macro, came with intention and specific energy. Clearly, this person was a genuine lover of the craft.
Second: the casting of characters & storytelling – he was a lover of people, fascinated by fellow humans.
The third thing, though, was what really pushed me to reach out when the opportunity came. It was this defiance – a fuck-you to the rules of gravity that I saw in his visuals. There was an air of freedom and playfulness and pure instinct that so few can translate to cinema gracefully.”
Audrey Nuna
"On meeting and collaborating on “Locket” with Petit, and his legacy:
“When it came time to build out the visual universe for my new project, I came across Valentin’s name through my friend and reached out online. After two months of preparing over the phone, we shot “locket” in Paris in April of 2023… it was a surreal week. Every person on set was lively and focused for every shot under his leadership. There were cranes and flying actors. There was dessert with every catered meal on set. There was a lot of laughing and a lot of magic. It’s funny how much you can learn about a person through their work and how they choose to work. Even though I only knew Valentin for a sum of three months, I found in this short time that everything that drew me to his videos clearly stemmed from the blueprint of his soul and who he was at his core. I’m honored to have worked with him and been inspired by him as a fellow artist. I’m just as honored to have gotten to know him as a person; his honesty, the undying and selfless passion he had for the craft, his free spirit and anti-gravity, his love and respect of people and adventure. He was gifted in all the ways his work vividly illustrated, and with such a sense of refreshing humility towards his collaborators and crew that can oftentimes feel rare to find in this industry. This is his final music video of this lifetime – I’m sure he’s already getting started, someplace, somewhere, gathering ideas and crafting wildest and freest visions to life.”
Audrey Nuna
