DON’T BREAK is a high-energy performance film starring artist ZEP, directed by Joachim Spruijt and produced by FutureFrank.The film captures a world where pressure is constant, visibility is demanded, and breaking is not an option.
Born from ZEP’s own habit of documenting his internal world, the concept grew from a simple ritual into the film’s defining metaphor. Stitching himself together became a way of visualising survival and self-control. DON’T BREAK evolved from a personal mantra into a relentless demand, shaping both the narrative and the film’s striking visual language.

Director Joachim Spruijt approached the project as a performance-first experience. The film unfolds across three distinct spaces: a sterile inner world where ZEP obsessively stitches himself together, a violently fast outside world that threatens to tear him apart, and a distorted final space where pressure becomes physical. Faceless figures and silhouettes replace individuals, representing forces rather than characters, while ZEP remains the sole protagonist at the centre of it all.

One of the defining elements of DON’T BREAK is how closely the process mirrors the subject matter. Shot in Los Angeles, the film was built around repetition, physical endurance, and control. The raw, graphic aesthetic, combined with prosthetics and abstract inserts, reinforces the tension between holding it together and coming undone.

DON’T BREAK is a visceral portrait of endurance and its limits. A performance film that doesn’t offer relief or resolution, but instead sits inside the pressure and asks a simple question: what does it really cost not to break?