CoMPANY Films--the production house under the aegis of exec producers Ron Cicero and Richard Goldstein--has signed director Mario Feil for branding and spot work in the U.S. This marks his first representation in the U.S. market. Feil’s directorial credits include multiple campaigns for BMW, Sennheiser, Volkswagen, Ford, the Olympics and BASF. Feil is currently on location shooting back-to-back campaigns for Lufthansa and Audi.

“What makes Mario so exciting as a director is he has a solid body of work in multiple categories,” said Cicero. “He excels at dialogue, VFX and performance, along with delivering great looking film for purely visual campaigns. Clients and creatives love how his sheet metal looks, but his expertise doesn’t stop there. From food photography to lifestyle to comedy dialogue, his work is refined, and multifaceted and points towards a long career. What’s more, he’s been able to land this broad base of work because agencies work with him repeatedly and trust he can transcend categories.”

For his part, Feil’s search for a stateside production company ended quickly after talking to CoMPANY. “Before COVID, I slowly started reaching out to U.S. companies, but quickly realized that CoMPANY and I shared the same mindset. I always work towards a timeless, cinematic and human end result, with a lot of passion. I love to work in new fields on products I haven’t shot, with people I haven’t worked with, to gain knowledge and try new things. I try to avoid shooting the same genre in a row or even repeat myself, because that seems too easy.”

Feil is a native of Bavaria. “Germany is car country,” he said. “I started doing car commercials because I loved the challenge as a DP/director. But I quickly realized that it wasn’t just the photography that interested me but the story--even if the spot was purely visual.”

Feil is often brought back to collaborate on multiple campaigns like the work he’s directed for one of Europe’s leading telecom clients, A1.net. Highlighting its new 5G spots, Feil added, “Many companies seem to overload their tech commercials with tech. We tried a different approach by showing how immersive this world could be in a positive and approachable way without getting bogged down by bit rates and other tech jargon.”

Feil’s recent spot titled “Diner” for Floyd luggage is a cinematic ode to the movie Pulp Fiction and spotlights his comedic chops. “We did a series of ads with film references and a suitcase twist,” he said. “I wanted the spots to feel as if that suitcase doesn’t really belong in those environments, which the actors realize, but still go all in on the joke. Kudos to the clients who let us really push the creative and stay true to the original vision.”