Word is that BMW’s "The Hire" will return this fall with three new shorts, out of Fallon Minneapolis and produced by bicoastal Anonymous Content. The Web-based shorts have scored impressively on the awards circuit this spring, gaining recognition at the AICP Show, the Clio Awards, the One Show and One Show Interactive….Bob Kerstetter, co-founder/creative director at Black Rocket Euro RSCG, San Francisco, has decided to leave the shop he opened in 1996 to pursue directing and screenwriting opportunities. Kerstetter won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for best commercial director of 2001 on the strength of three spots he helmed for Black Rocket client Musco Olives. The campaign was produced through bicoastal Tool of North America….Creative director Alex Lasarenko has exited the New York office of bicoastal Elias Arts. The music/sound design shop has promoted Fritz Doddy to succeed him….Director Rebecca Blake is headed for bicoastal Piper Productions….Director Mark Baldo has signed with bicoastal Hornet for spot representation. Baldo was most recently with Blue Sky Studios, White Plains, N.Y., working as sequence director on the feature film Ice Age….Production/post facility National Video Center, New York, is closing its doors. As of press time no one at the company was available for comment. It was unclear whether any of its 12 divisions would be continuing their individual operations….Zilpha Yost has been promoted to president of Portland, Ore.-headquartered Vinton Studios’ advertising division….Fluid, New York, has named managing director Marc Schwartz a partner at the music, sound design, editorial and visual effects studio….Colorist Demetri Kitsopoulos has joined Crash & Sue’s, Minneapolis….Composer Tommy Coster, Jr., has signed with AudiO2, Southfield, Mich., and its affiliate Brad Music, for exclusive representation….Tricia Halloran has been appointed creative director of SubZero, the Santa Monica shop specializing in getting emerging music artists and established stars to create original music for commercials….Visual effects/animation/motion graphics design studio Realm Productions has been launched in Santa Monica by visual effects supervisors Rony Soussan and Brian Fisher….Editor Sam Selis has joined the Austin, Texas, office of charlieuniformtango, Dallas. He had been with Joint Editorial, Portland, Ore., for the past four years….A couple of awards addenda to our coverage of the AICP Show and the Clio Awards: In the former, Los Angeles-based Dattner & Associates had one of its DPs honored in the Cinematography category for the seventh time in 11 years—this year’s recipient being Claudio Miranda for his work on Pocari’s "Tennis" spot. As for Clio, that awards competition named Santa Monica-based Harvest as Production Company of the Year. Harvest was launched a year ago by director Baker Smith and executive producer Bonnie Goldfarb….
London Critics Name “The Brutalist” The Film of the Year
The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s immigrant saga, won the Film of the Year prize at the 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards.
While The Brutalist garnered just one award, it was the marquee honor. Meanwhile Nickel Boys, Conclave and A Real Pain all receivd multiple awards, and Zoe Saldaña was honored twice.
Edward Berger’s Vatican thriller Conclave took two awards for British/Irish Film of the Year and Actor of the Year for Ralph Fiennes, while RaMell Ross’s radical Colson Whitehead adaptation Nickel Boys was recognized with Director of the Year and the Technical Achievement Award for Jomo Fray’s first-person cinematography. Jesse Eisenberg’s dark comedy A Real Pain was the night’s other multiple prizewinner, landing Screenwriter of the Year for the actor-filmmaker, and Supporting Actor of the Year for co-star Kieran Culkin.
Payal Kapadia’s Mumbai-set drama All We Imagine as Light was named Foreign Language Film of the Year, while the Palestinian-Israeli collective behind No Other Land took Documentary of the Year.
Alongside Conclave, British productions awarded by the Circle in the top categories included Mike Leigh’s intimate character study Hard Truths, which took Actress of the Year for Marianne Jean-Baptiste, while Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was named Animated Feature of the Year. In the British/Irish-specific categories, Saoirse Ronan won British/Irish Performer of the Year for her performances in The Outrun and Blitz, 14-year-old Nykiya Adams won Young British/Irish Performer of the Year for her screen debut in Andrea Arnold’s Bird, and Rich Peppiatt won the... Read More