Angel Olsen Announces 'Big Time' Film

A collaboration with director Kimberly Stuckwisch, the short film is set to arrive June 2

BY Kaelen BellPublished May 9, 2022

Angel Olsen's much-anticipated new record Big Time is arriving June 3, but today's she's announced and shared the trailer for a corresponding film of the same name, which will arrive the day before the album. 

The 28-minute film is a collaboration with director Kimberly Stuckwisch, who directed the video for Olsen's 2021 Sharon Van Etten duet "Like I Used To."

The two wrote the script in December before eventually bringing filmmaker Ellis Bahl on board as a writing and editing collaborator, and shot the film in one week in late January. The film features the videos for Big Time lead singles "All the Good Times" and "Big Time," while today's trailer features snippets of new songs "Chasing the Sun" and "Through the Fires." 

In a statement about the Big Time film, Olsen said:
 
At the time of my mother's passing I kept having these super visual dreams about time travel. Later on I decided I'd name the record Big Time, not only because of the song but also as a kind of wink to time expansion and change. When I approached Kimberly Stuckwisch about making these videos, I thought it would be cool to include the storyline of one of the dreams I'd had, and really use it as a way to tell the story of the songs. She added dialogue and events, some that are based in reality and others that haven't happened, to create a story arc around my dream, to give it a thicker plot, using the music videos within and creating a larger film.

 I've always had a vivid imagination and it was really special to make these subconscious moments real, but it was also a really emotional and raw process and felt almost at times like a spiritual clearing, that by putting myself in the story and moving pieces of it around, I also personally had to re-examine my losses and find a new way to process the events that actually took place in my life. Though most of it is scripted, it is probably the most intimate work I have ever made and shared with the public . . . and it serves as an homage to my mother. I only wish my mom was here to listen to the record, because something tells me that she would have really liked this one.


Big Time will premiere at 9:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, June 2 on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch and the Amazon Music App. The film will be screened live on the 2nd at Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles, with additional in-person showings in Los Angeles and London. These screenings will be followed by a live performance from Olsen. 

"It's a story that targets deep rooted complexities such as how our unconscious deals with repressed sexual identity, the hardships of letting go of our past selves in order to step into self-actualization, and the guilt we hold when dealing with loss," Kimberly Stuckwisch said in a statement. " For one reason or another, we all have parts of ourselves that we struggle to forgive as well as a part of ourselves we are afraid of exploring or that we think society won't like—so we push those parts down into our unconscious psyches, into the shadows. This is the story of drowning in those fears before releasing your light." 

See the trailer below. 

Latest Coverage