Thru You Princess

The Israeli musician and artist Kutiman rose to fame in 2009 with his “Thru You” project. In his audiovisual symphonies, he mashes up samples of YouTube clips featuring amateur musicians who have posted their videos online. They are like virtual bottles in the boundless sea that is the Internet, ones that the musicians hope will be found and treasured. Samantha is a nurse living on her own in one of the tougher neighborhoods of New Orleans. She is trying to make it as a musician under the name Princess Shaw. In addition to sharing her own songs on YouTube, Samantha also uploads episodes from her candid video diary. Director Ido Haar documents her attempt to make it in the music scene in her hometown and mixes these scenes with footage of Kutiman at home on a kibbutz, watching Samantha online, singing her a cappella vocals and sampling them in a "Thru You" video. Samantha couldn’t possibly imagine that halfway around the world, there's someone who believes in her and her original music – and someone who is about to expand her audience to numbers beyond her wildest dreams.