‘Down Here’, the visual piece from composer Claudio Olachea and director Omer Ben Shachar, depicts a nightmarish scenario where everyone wears identical masks to fit in. But when one young man’s mask begins to peel off, he questions if hiding his true identity is really worth it.

Omer Ben Shachar is a Los Angeles-based writer-director. He directed music videos for artists such as Mergui, Kama Vardi and Claudio Olachea, for which he was nominated for a Cannes Lion Young Directors Award. His short TREE #3 won a 2019 Student Academy Award, as well as top prizes at UrbanWorld, HollyShorts, Palm Springs Shortfest, AFI Fest and Comic-Con, among others. Omer’s short films have screened at over 60 film festivals around the world, including the Hamptons International Film Festival and the Bentonville Film Festival. Omer is a graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory, and received the Richard P. Rogers Spirit of Excellence Award for Directing. Omer was a participant in the 2022 Nickelodeon Comedy Incubator, the 2020 Warner Bros. Directors’ Workshop, the 2020 ViacomCBS’s ViewFinder Directors Program and the BAFTA North America Newcomers Program. Beyond his narrative work, Omer has done extensive commercial work for clients such as Salon, Bayer, Amdocs and Microsoft. In 2020, he was named to Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 list.