OkayStudio's Alex O’Brien Celebrates Bold Tribute to Queer Resilience

Following a winning streak at Creative Circle and Kinsale Sharks Awards, as well as a nomination at this year’s CICLOPE for Matt Lambert’s short documentary 'Why?', OkayStudio colourist Alex O’Brien looks back at the powerful film that celebrates the Bronski Beat’s seminal 1984 anthem.

Commissioned by London Records to mark the track’s 40th anniversary, Lambert weaves together archival material and newly shot footage into a poignant tapestry of resilience, power, and solidarity. The short honours the song’s place in Queer history while amplifying contemporary voices from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, offering today’s emergent Queer youth a vital lens into the struggles and triumphs that shaped their community.

For Alex O’Brien, the project was more than just a film to colour, it was an opportunity to help illuminate a piece of cultural history that continues to resonate. The recognition it has received across the international awards circuit underscores not only the film’s artistic achievement but also its urgent relevance as a story of identity, survival, and collective strength.

“Matt has made an incredibly special project that is now a part of our history. It’s an homage to those who came before us and is a call out to the work that still has to be done. Our main focus was to maintain the archival feel of the footage and not push it away from what it is; history. I wanted to bring out the life of the material! While Jakob [Lemme] created visuals that brought a new edge to perhaps more challenging aspects and characters of the film. Giving us a fresh canvas to showcase our history through the lens of someone who understands our resilience.”

Watch more work by Alex O’Brien and Jakob Lemme on OkayStudio.