Rob Munday

Welcome to the world of Oberon Zell-Ravenheart (aka Oz), a self-described Wizard whose life has seen him raise Unicorns, spend time with the “worst mass-murderer of the 20th century” and embark on a quest to find Mermaids. Danny Yourd’s magical 23-minute documentary The Wizard Oz takes you on a whirlwind tour through the life of this enchanting man as his fantastical tales make for an utterly spellbinding watch that could rival many works of fiction.

Inspired to create his short after reading an article on Vice called ‘Meet The Wizard Behind the World’s Only Real-Life Hogwarts’, Yourd knew instantly he wanted to make Oz the subject of his next film. Initially reaching out to discuss the Wizard School he was setting-up, the director soon decided to hone the focus of his film on the magical man himself after hearing more about his fascinating life.

Shot over five days (two separate trips to film Oz in Santa Cruz) on the Sony FS7, though The Wizard Oz’s main draw has to be the amazing stories of its charismatic subject, to overlook the impeccable product of this short doc would be doing a huge disservice to Yourd and his crew. Combining archival footage with what the director describes as “low-budget location shooting”, the film seamlessly blends its beautifully-shot interviews and inventive cutaways to create a film that flows so effortlessly its seemingly long (for a short film) run-time unravels in what feels like a blink of an eye.

Now working on directing various commercial and branded content jobs with production studio Animal, The Wizard Oz is another impressive addition to Yourd’s directing/producing credentials which has now seen him feature on S/W four times (Downward Dog, Alone & Elgin Park being the other three).