Feature filmmakers The Hughes Brothers—Albert and Allen—who have directed such features as From Hell and Menace II Society, have signed with Oil Factory Films, Hollywood, for commercial representation, and are currently working on a three-spot package for Nike out of Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore….Executive producer Marshall Rawlings, formerly of now defunct Propaganda Independent, has joined bicoastal Anonymous Content. Rawlings will oversee a new Anonymous operation that will represent select feature directors for spots….Matthew Marquis, formerly principal/executive producer of now defunct Milk Bar, has taken the exec producer reins at Slo.Graffiti, a division of Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures. He replaces Laura Howard, whose plans weren’t known at press time….Word is that directors Gary Weis and Francisco Pugliese are joining Santa Monica-based Atlas Pictures….Director Jim Barton, briefly with bicoastal M-80 and prior to that San Francisco-based kaboom, has joined Picture Park, Santa Monica, and Boston….Choreographer Michael Rooney has embarked on a directing career, joining the music video roster at Squeak Pictures, the Los Angeles-based hybrid spot/music clips house headed by president/executive producer Pam Tarr. Vicki Mayer, formerly an exec producer for bicoastal Black Dog Films, has assumed the same role at Squeak’s music video operation….The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has ratified its negotiated agreement with the advertising industry covering talent fees for musicians in TV, radio and Internet commercials. The new three-year contract is retroactive to Oct. 17, ’01, and will expire Oct. 16, ’04. It calls for a total wage and benefit increase of six percent over the life of the agreement. The contract also sets a standard Internet rate of compensation…. Charlene Lilly has joined GTN, Oak Park, Mich., as an Avid editor. Earlier, she was an in-house offline editor for three years at Southfield, Mich. ad agency Doner….
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