Jeff Labbé has departed Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, where he was a senior VP/creative director, to pursue directing….Director Sam Cadman has come aboard bicoastal Tool of North America for U.S. and Canadian commercial work….Bicoastal Headquarters has signed director Laurence Thrush for U.S. spot representation….Guzman, a directing team consisting of Russell Peacock and Connie Hansen, has come aboard Cielo Films, Santa Monica, for exclusive spot representation in the U.S. The New York-based duo is already well established in the European ad community, with representation via Premiere Heure, St. Cloud, France…. Noted DP Ivan Bird is now directing commercials via Serious Pictures, London. Bird will be handled in the U.S. by Paul Muniz of PMI Management, New York, who will rep him on the East Coast, and by Michel Waxman of MBW Represents, Venice, Calif., on the West Coast….Curious Pictures has added director/designer Josh Graham for commercial, music video and broadcast design work….Mother, London, has hired Linus Karlsson and Paul Malmstrom as creative directors of the agency’s as-yet-unopened U.S. outpost. The pair had previously been at Fallon, New York….Mallary Weintraub has been named head of production at San Francisco-based kaboom….Suzanne Rieger has been named executive producer at The Well, New York. She succeeds Wendy Bryant, who left to move back home to Portland, Ore. Rieger’s previous industry roosts include 89 Editorial and Final Cut, both in New York….Venice-based broadcast design house Stardust Studios is going bicoastal with the addition of a New York office slated to open Sept. 1. Company principal/president Matthew Marquis will executive produce for both offices, while his partner, creative director Jake Banks, will relocate to New York. East Coast staff also includes designer/2-D and 3-D animator Peter Conlon and producer Jenn Dewey. Meanwhile, added to the West Coast staff are art director Jason Doherty and designer/animator Neil Tsai….Rhythm Café, Chicago, has added Ralph Beerhorst for exclusive representation as a composer, producer and performer of music for TV and radio commercials….
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