Dazed Digital enters the next stage of its evolution later today with the launch of Visionaries, a landmark new online series that leads the way in groundbreaking, original video content. 

Kicking off this week is cinematic polymath and December cover star James Franco, who premieres three exclusive films on the channel – including Animals, a surreal, paint-smeared experimental piece that involves two masked, quasi-naked performers pretending to be beasts of burden. Franco's also commissioned original video work from three of his favourite artists and collaborators. In the coming weeks, expect auteurs and pioneers like  Matt Lambert, Björk, Rankin, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Kim Jones to take over the video section with original and commissioned work. 

Our regular documentary series Doc X launches alongside this with an intimate portrait of underground filmmaker and legendary Kinky Gerlinky chronicler Dick Jewell, who invites Dazed into his Pimlico archive featuring Vivenne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Neneh Cherry, Boy George and many more. Expect a new doc every Tuesday. Also going live today, performance art radical and Hood By Air muse Boychild stars in the first film from Exhibit A, our weekly experimental video series that will shine a light on the newest, rawest talents in art every Wednesday. We also unveil two brand new fashion films styled by Robbie Spencer and shot by Pierre Debusschere.

To round that all off we also have our Best of Archive section launching today, which curates some of the very best videos Dazed has helped create over the past two decades.

That's not all – later this week, we're launching a video ident competition where you can submit your own cinematic take on the Dazed logo. You'll join our roster of ident artists, which includes Kenzo artist Natalia Stuyk, Nike illustrators and MCM designers Craig & Karl, and Bubblebyte co-founder Rhys Coren. 

Check back all this week for exclusive Visionaries content and more.