Tell the truth, even if it makes people uncomfortable!

Yonatan DØR, founder of The Dør Brothers, shares his vision of AI, provocation, and artistic freedom, navigating between creation and the refusal to compromise.

Provocation, refusal to compromise, mistrust of power, and absolute faith in meaning. Yonatan DØR does not speak of tools or trends, but of choice, dignity, and what art agrees to sacrifice to exist. A raw, sometimes uncomfortable world, which assumes friction and puts the message back in the center, where everything begins.

We remember one of your first viral videos, a parade that already seemed very frontal. Yet you say you are against politics. What was your intention?

Honestly, we just do whatever we want. Haters will hate. It doesn’t affect me. I’m not trying to adapt to what people expect. Someone I really like says: “If you always follow your truth, you can’t go wrong. Even if you end up in prison or executed, you die with honor.” That’s how I see things.

This morning, you compared the elections to a “school popularity contest”. Why?

Because that’s exactly what they are. Politicians promise one thing, then the opposite in the next election. They just want to be the most popular, not competent. If the system were healthy, they wouldn’t even be paid. It would be volunteer work.

You use AI to convey very direct messages. For you, is it an effective tool for telling the truth?

AI is just a medium. If you have nothing to say, it’s useless. An image without a message is noise. A piece has to carry a part of you, otherwise it’s just another visual.

Some people compare you to Higgsfield, who also plays on provocation. Do you work together?

No, and I don’t respect them. They chase buzz, not meaning. Making a video about a guy who died a week ago while his wife is still grieving... to me, that’s emotional pornography. There’s an elegant way to approach controversy. That’s not what they do.

In France, many fear AI, sometimes more than elsewhere. Did you feel it?

Yes. The French love art – real art. They want to protect what they consider precious. I respect that. But change is coming anyway. Everyone is afraid – in Germany too, everywhere. The difference is that France is very attached to its artistic heritage, and that makes the transition harder. But early adopters always win in the end.

You talked about money during your speech and explained refusing very lucrative offers. How do you handle that?

I’m a stoic. Whether I’m a billionaire or homeless, I’ll be the same. Money is important – it’s how you make films, how you move projects forward. But it’s never the goal. My goal isn’t money. My goal is what you can create with money. That’s why I refuse politicians who want to pay me to make propaganda. Life is short. You’re not judged by your bank account, but by your choices. You can be rich and still be a loser if you sacrificed your dignity to get there.

You are looking for investors. What exactly are you waiting for?

All our competitors are raising funds. We’re opening the door too. But we want someone who has the guts to invest without telling us what to do. It’s rare. But if someone can do that, it can turn into something huge.

Who are the “DØR Brothers” really? A duo? A collective? A myth?

(Laughs.) I can’t say everything. Not everyone wants to be exposed. But yes, it’s a real collective. There are art directors, directors, editors, sound designers... but also lawyers, tax experts, assistants. It’s an actual structure.

You say that art must contain a part of oneself. Is this fundamental for your group?

Yes. For me, a work without a piece of your soul is nothing. It’s just an image. Art is when you sacrifice a part of yourself so others can feel something. I only want to work with people who understand that.

Your awards have attracted a lot of proposals. How did the selection go?

It was fun... and sometimes worrying. We had to watch everything. In our spreadsheet, sometimes we would write “CALL THE POLICE.” Some films were really disturbing. But that’s what a competition without limits is. The contest is over. We handed out the trophies – real physical trophies. For the next edition, we want to go bigger: sponsors, a real event, probably in Berlin, with a prize pool between 100 and 200K. That’s the plan, even though we already have a lot on our plate.

And now? What are your concrete goals for the future?

We have three big goals. The first is music. We want to become the global reference for rap music videos. I want Kendrick, Drake, Ski Mask to come to us naturally. For it to feel obvious. The second is advertising. Today, ads are just noise. Before, there were ads people talked about for twenty years. We want to give that back to brands: the willingness to take a risk. If a brand never takes risks, it never creates anything that lasts. The third is cinema. We want to make real films. Not “an AI film,” not some gimmick. We want to make films that make people want to go out at night, go to the cinema, and think: “Tonight’s going to be a good night.” Today, there are two good films a year. The rest is the same recipe. We want to break that.