Directing duo Big TV! (a.k.a. Andy Delaney and Monty Whitebloom) has come aboard Santa Monica-based harvest for exclusive spot representation in the U.S.….Bicoastal/international Believe Media has partnered with production executive Gower Frost and director Diane Van Ussel to form a satellite, Conceive Media, which currently reps Van Ussel and director Liz Hinlein. Frost is president of Conceive Media….Directors Wayne Isham and Darren Grant have joined RAW/Progressive Films, Hollywood, for commercials and music videos….Director Mehdi Norowzian of Joy Films, London, is leaving the roster of bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures, his longstanding roost for U.S. spot work, effective Aug. 1….Ari Merkin has joined Fallon, New York, as executive creative director. He was a VP/associate creative director at Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York….The New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission has survived extensive cutbacks in the state’s 2003-’04 fiscal year budget. The film commission has been allocated $406,000 in funding, the same amount as in fiscal year ’02-’03….Former creative director Chris Mosera has made the transition to directing full time, signing with IPS Productions, Valley Village, Calif. Mosera had most recently been with J. Walter Thompson, Denver….Cine/DRSA International, New York, has signed directors Jeremy Goodall and Greg Francois of Accelerator Films, Cramerview, South Africa, for U.S. representation….Passion Pictures, London, has signed directing duo John Williams and David Lea for commercial and music video representation….Visual effects compositor John Scheer has joined Company 3, Santa Monica….Lesley Robson-Foster has landed at R!OT, Santa Monica, as visual effects supervisor. Previously, she had held a similar post at R!OT Manhattan. Robson-Foster will work on commercials and music videos, as well as serve as visual effects supervisor and consultant for features and longform television….Catherine O’Donnell has joined music/sound design shop barton:holt, Culver City, Calif., as producer….Sparks Productions, Toronto, has entered into an agreement with ARF & Co., Hoboken, N.J., to represent director/ cameraman Alex Fernbach exclusively in Canada. Additionally, director Jim Manera has returned to Sparks for Canadian representation after a brief sabbatical. Manera and executive producer Tracy Hauser recently launched blindfaith, a production company based in Santa Monica….Bicoastal Face The Music has hired Chris Doyle as executive producer at its Santa Monica office. Also joining the West Coast base of operation is composer Ben Wise….Comedy director James Tooley has signed with Los Angeles-based The Mine for exclusive spot representation…. Dennis Myers has been promoted to general manager of Colorado FX, Santa Monica….Colorist Jeff Bauman has come aboard Atlanta-headquartered Crawford Post Production…. Bicoastal Hornet Inc. has added creative director Tim Brown…. Animation director Jeff Drew has joined Duck (formerly Duck Soup Studios), Los Angeles….
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