Producer Sigurjón Sighvatsson reflected at the Locarno Film Festival on building Propaganda Films and helping launch major filmmakers’ careers, while discussing his collaborations with David Lynch on Wild at Heart and Twin Peaks. His account matters because it highlights how music videos and commercials offered a route into feature filmmaking for directors excluded from Hollywood’s mainstream system.

Receiving Locarno’s Raimondo Rezzonico Award, Sighvatsson described a 50-year career encompassing more than 100 music-video, film and television credits. He co-founded Propaganda Films in 1986 with Steve Golin; within four years, it was producing at least a third of music videos made at the time and represented around 50 directors, including Michael Bay, Spike Jonze, David Fincher, Antoine Fuqua and Michel Gondry. He said the company’s creative ambitions also contributed to its eventual unravelling, as many collaborators viewed short-form work chiefly as a step towards feature films.