André 3000 has announced the release of his new short film, 7 piano sketches, which is available exclusively on MUBI.
Co-written and co-directed with filmmaker Graham Mason, the project, according to MUBI program notes, leans on the music of the OutKast star's 2025 EP of the same name — a collection of solo piano instrumentals he began recording nearly 15 years ago.
The film follows André on a surreal commute through New York, with a grand piano strapped to his back and a notebook of sketches in hand. Along the way, he passes by an unusual cast of characters whose identities reflect his music.
The film's narrative is entirely without dialogue, but relies on physical storytelling to carry its themes of interpersonal connection, time, creativity, and loss.
As seen in the film, an image of a man hauling a piano across the city was one that André had envisioned, and was worn by him at the 2025 Met Gala.
"I'd been thinking about the idea for a long time: walking around New York with a huge piano strapped to my back," he told MUBI. "That was the idea that the film grew out of, and when the Met Gala came around and I had to dress up, I thought, Why not use the idea there too?"
The prop piano, which was was stripped of internal wood components to lessen its weight, eventually came to 35 pounds, which was still "heavy" for the 51-year-old. "But I still wanted to move as if it wasn't heavy at all… All the jumping around I do in the film actually messed my back up a little bit," he revealed.
The EP arrived as a follow-up to André's Grammy-nominated album New Blue Sun, the 2023 flute-centric project that earned André a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. In an Instagram post upon its release, André jokingly dubbed 7 piano sketches "the worst rap album in history because there are no lyrics on it at all."
