Word is that director Bob Kerstetter and his longtime colleague, executive producer Stelio Kitrilakis, have come aboard bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures….Director Pete Henderson of Toronto-based Brown Entertainment has joined Free Market Films, New York, for U.S. representation. Headed by executive producer Beth Kinder and director Edouard Nammour, Free Market has a directorial roster that also consists of Clay Staub and Buenos Aires-based Martin Hodara….Composer/sound designer Andy Snavley, formerly of CB+Co., West Los Angeles, has launched Inglewood, Calif.-based music/sound design shop Bendy….Oxford, U.K.-headquartered Vicon Motion Systems, developer of optical motion capture systems, has acquired Los Angeles-based motion capture studio House of Moves (HOM). The acquisition formally establishes HOM as a new technology test-bed for Vicon….Flame artist Jan Cilliers has joined Click 3x, New York….Paul Hannaford has been promoted to head of visual effects at Rushes, London….The industry is mourning motion picture technology innovator Edmund M. DiGiulio, who passed away on June 4 after a long battle with congestive heart failure. He was 76. DiGiulio founded Cinema Products, where he developed numerous innovations, including the Steadicam, the motion picture camera stabilization system worn by camera operators—for which he, along with inventor Garrett Brown and Cinema Products’ engineering staff, won an Oscar in 1978. DiGiulio also received the Gordon E. Sawyer Lifetime Achievement Oscar in ’01, and was an Emmy Award winner as well….
Breakout Films and Major Takeaways From This Year’s Sundance Fest
Film wasn't the only thing on people's minds at this year's Sundance Film Festival, which comes to a close Sunday in Park City, Utah ( and online ).
The effects of the wildfires in Southern California loomed large, as did the bittersweet knowledge that this year will be the second to last Sundance based in Park City. Some films offered an escape from reality; others were a pointed reminder of the domestic and international political landscape, from transgender rights to the war in Ukraine.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the 41st edition of the festival.
The effects of the Southern California fires were deeply felt
The wildfires were still burning in parts of Los Angeles when Sundance began last week and reminders of its devastation were everywhere, even on screen. Max Walker-Silverman's "Rebuilding," starring Josh O'Connor as a cowboy who loses his ranch in a wildfire and forms a community with fellow survivors in a FEMA camp, hit close to home for many.
Filmmakers Meena Menon and Paul Gleason lost their home in Altadena where they filmed some of their zombie apocalypse movie "Didn't Die." Sundance artist labs head Michelle Satter lost her Palisades home as well. Satter had an audience of Sundance Institute donors in tears early in the festival while accepting an honor at a fundraising gala.
"It's a deeply devastating time for us and so many others, a moment that calls for all of us coming together to support our bigger community," Satter said. "As a friend recently noted, and I have to listen to this, 'Take a deep breath ... We lost our village, but at the end of the day we are the village.'"
The festival's move to another city dominated conversations
It was a topic... Read More