Andrew Gura was first struck by visions of fantastical stories during a repeated childhood experience: watching scenery rush by outside buses and cars between his parents’ homes.

The displacement he felt in transit became a catalyst for creativity. It shaped his mindset, honed his eye for the surreality and cinematic potential in everyday moments, and taught him to reclaim the uncertain present with his own voice.

Now a director, Andrew has built a diverse body of work that celebrates the wonder hiding in plain sight, from one-off commissions (Anenon’s Tongue for Apple Music) to personal films like Between Sounds with Topu Lyo (jeen-yuhs), to long-term narrative development (Nelson’s Edwin).

But the image Andrew is perhaps most known for is the Smile cover of J Dilla’s seminal Donuts LP.

Sonny and the Bull, Andrew’s first narrative screenplay, is a night drive through the shiny and tumultuous 1980s alongside the Sikh man who championed the Lamborghini Countach in the States. The film is presently in development, and Portals, the micro-episodic story of a woman chasing her past via her future, is currently in production.