Who would have thought that one of the most socially visionary works of 2025 was based on a story 175 years ago?
Such is the amazing origin of “Singers“, which is quickly becoming one of the most popular short films of the year. Director Sam Davies' script was inspired by reading Ivan Turgenev's short story “The Singers”, which was included in George Saunders' book of literary analysis, Swimming in a Pond in the Rain. In the text, a group of rough men in a bar find connection by baring their souls in an impromptu singing competition. Interestingly, Davies was first inspired to adapt the old work by juxtaposing it with a modern environment.
“I thought it was cool, but I didn't walk away from it thinking I wanted to make a movie about it,” he says. “It happened moments later when I opened my phone, and the first video that came up was a viral video of a guy busking in a subway station. It was the most beautiful, soulful, raw performance I'd ever heard. The idea for its adaptation suddenly became crystal clear: I'd retell this Russian tale from 1850, but with all these truly unsuspecting, viral video singing talents that we'd be curating from TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram from all over the world. Then we can fill the bar with this group of geniuses hiding in plain sight in the pub.”
Sam Davis will direct The Singers.
Photo by Jordan Kramer
The result is a bold combination of classic filmmaking and new technologies. Davis doubled down on the risk of hiring non-professional actors without writing a traditional script, instead allowing his unique talent to improvise much of their dialogue, the freedom of which was based on Davis' experience in the world of documentary filmmaking. Additionally, the project was shot on 35mm film to create a rich image of the warm story, and the music was recorded live on set—two complex maneuvers that added realism.
What's also timeless about this film is that it naturally speaks to the so-called “male loneliness epidemic,” a social problem that has seen a lot of ink spilled over the past year as more and more friendships are dulled by online culture.
“That's definitely my takeaway from the original story: 'Wow, this is a modest 1850s pub and a group of men who are tough men,'” Davis says. “There's a certain vulnerability that goes into creating community and having that moment of connection. I grew up in a small town in Michigan—certainly not a place where we're healthy carriers of our emotions, especially as men. I think making this movie was part of me carrying my soul. Each of the characters in the movie radically opens up to them. But on a meta level, that's what really attracted me: the power, especially for men, of being open to communication and sharing and discovering what the guy you're sitting next to at the bar actually has with you.” there’s a lot of similarities and it will lead to something cathartic.”
Connections were also established between the “Singers” and the audience. After its world premiere at South by Southwest, the film won more than 25 festival awards, including top prize at the Provo, Utah festival. Filmquest. I Am Not a Robot, which won FilmQuest's top honor in 2024, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short this year.
Davis, who is already nominated for an Academy Award for producing the 2023 short film Noi Nai and Wai Po, hopes that any further success of the Oscar-contending short will inspire more people to seek out his unique take on art and vulnerability.
“These two very different mediums came together in a wonderful way to form one vision,” says Davis. “I think it’s an interesting way to take a subversive approach to using an algorithm to create something very human, handmade and analog.”
Check out the teaser trailer and poster for The Singers below.
Poster (featuring painting by Paul Mollender)
