GPL Technologies has hired Felix Fissel to lead its VFXnow unit as VP of global operations. Fissel, an IT specialist with deep experience in the visual effects industry, will oversee VFXnow operations in Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver. He will also lead business development and seek to expand markets for the unit, a hardware-as-a-service provider to visual effects studios, game developers, editing houses and other creative services companies. Additionally, he will spearhead the launch of a new cloud-based service that will provide visual effects companies with virtual access to rendering capacity, workstations and other high-performance technology.
“Felix brings impressive technical expertise and a clear vision for moving VFXnow forward,” said GPL CEO Brian Terrell. “His passion and experience in visual effects is critical to our ability to meet our clients’ current needs and develop innovative, new resources that will carry them into the future.”
Fissel joins VFXnow from the visual effects studio Pixomondo. As global head of IT, he was responsible for managing the technical infrastructure for seven facilities across three continents. Originally from Germany, he was trained as an engineer at Fachhochschule, Darmstadt, before joining Pixomondo in 2006.
A key mission for Fissel will be to broaden VFXnow’s offering through cloud-based services. The company plans to introduce a platform that will allow visual effects studios to access rendering, storage and computer resources on an as-needed basis through a private network. “We’re expanding the concept of hardware-as-a-service,” he said. “Companies often need to add capacity quickly but lack physical space to store extra rendering nodes and storage systems. Our clients will be able to access as many render nodes as they need, instantly, without worrying about things like space, power and cooling.”
Fissel added that VFXnow is uniquely qualified to deliver integrated cloud services for visual effects production. “Our model will be less expensive and more attuned to the needs of visual effects studios than other solutions,” he said.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More