Steve Hanft is a music video and film director.

Early life

Steven Hanft was born in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the ...

. He has an MFA in Experimental Narrative Film from

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the ...

Music videos

Steve Hanft has directed music videos for recording artists such as

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

Gone! (The Cure song) "Gone!" is a song by English rock band The Cure, released as the fourth and final single from their tenth studio album ''Wild Mood Swings'' (1996) and was released on December 2 1996. The single contained numerous remixes as B-sides. The song di ...

Delinquent Habits Delinquent Habits is an American hip hop group, formed in Norwalk, California in 1991. They are known for their Latin-tinged rap, which is both melodic and hardcore. Their first album was executive produced by Cypress Hill member Sen Dog and ...

" Tres Delinquentes" & "Return of the Tres",

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock music, rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie (musician), Jim Beattie (guitar). The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simon ...

"Kowalski" written by

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

and featuring

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. Arriving towards the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her t ...

and

Devon Aoki Devon Edwenna Aoki (born August 10, 1982) is an American model and retired actress. Aoki's film roles include '' 2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003), ''Sin City'' (2005), '' DOA: Dead or Alive'' (2006) and ''Mutant Chronicles'' (2008). Early life Aoki gr ...

Spoon A spoon (, ) is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it ...

"The Way We Get By", and for

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

, including "Loser," "Pay No Mind - Snoozer" featuring

Mark Gonzales Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz", "the Gonz" and "the Godfather", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. A pioneer in the development of modern street skating, he is considered one of the first street-style s ...

, "Where it's At" shot by

Lance Acord Lance Acord is an American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for his work on the films, '' Buffalo '66'' (1998), ''Being John Malkovich'' (1999), ''Adaptation'' (2002), and ''Lost in Translation'' (2003). Early life Acord ...

, "Jack-ass" featuring

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, and "The Golden Age." The video Steve Hanft directed for Beck, "Loser", received three nominations at the

MTV Music Video Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

in 1994 including "Best Male Video", "Best New Artist In A Video", and "Best Alternative Video." In 1996, the video Steve Hanft directed for "Where it's At" won the MTV Music Video Award for "Best Male Video" and was chosen to be the first video aired on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

. "Where it's At" was referred to in the title the 2009 LA Film Fest event "''Where it Was At: A Propaganda & Satellite Films Tribute,"'' a panel featuring

Steve Golin Steven Aaron Golin (March 6, 1955 – April 21, 2019) was an American film and television producer and the founder and CEO of Anonymous Content LLP, a multimedia development, production and talent management company and co-founder and CEO of ...

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is an English music video director and filmmaker. Originally from Catterick, North Yorkshire, he is based in Los Angeles, California. He has directed music videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Toto, Ba ...

, Danielle Peretz, and Steve Hanft, moderated by Laurie Malaga. February 2024, Hanft directed and created the film clip for

Darren Cross Darren Agonistes Cross is a supervillain appearing in Marvel Comics properties. He is the archenemy of Scott Lang (the second superhero to be called Ant-Man), the father of Augustine Cross, and the cousin of Crossfire. In the Marvel Cinemat ...

, "A Harebrained Adventure Of An Amateur Shaman".

Documentary

In 1998, Steve Hanft directed an experimental documentary featuring

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nominated A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

composer

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

promoting the album " XO" called "

Strange Parallel ''Strange Parallel'' is a documentary short film revolving around the American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The film was directed by Steve Hanft and released on October 15, 1998, and features interviews with Elliott himself as well as fans, ...

" which debuted at the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

Film Fest. From 2004 to 2008 Steve Hanft documented the resurgence of Jamaican sound system music in Los Angeles, resulting in the 2008 documentary, "Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style". The documentary features performances and interviews with

U-Roy Ewart Beckford OD (21 September 1942 – 17 February 2021), known by the stage name U-Roy, was a Jamaican vocalist and pioneer of toasting.Jo-Ann GreeneU-Roy Biography, AllMusic. Retrieved 11 April 2013. U-Roy was known for a melodic style ...

Sister Nancy Ophlin Russell (born on 2 January 1962), better known as Sister Nancy (or Muma Nancy), is a Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer. She is known as the first female dancehall DJ and was described as being a "dominating female voice for over two dec ...

Scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

, and

Ranking Joe Ranking Joe Little Joe (born Joseph Jackson, 1 July 1959, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae deejay who rose to prominence in the 1970s and had continuing success in the 1980s. Biography Jackson was initially inspired towards a musical career by ...

Producing

"Sunglass Catch", a video Steve Hanft produced, and co-starred in, has been named one of "The 10 Most Important Youtube Videos" according to

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

Screenwriting

In 2018, Steve Hanft wrote the action suspense screenplay "Crocodile Rock" commissioned by Australian multimedia entrepreneur

Chris Murphy Christopher Scott Murphy (born August 3, 1973) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from the state of Connecticut since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the U ...

Awards

In 2007, Steve produced and co-starred in a short film for

Ray-Ban Ray-Ban is a brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is best known for its Wayfarer and Aviator lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to Italian eyewear conglomerate Luxottica ...

called "Sunglass Catch", which won a Cannes Bronze Lion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanft, Steve Living people Musicians from California Artists from California Writers from California People from Ventura, California Year of birth missing (living people)