By Robert Goldrich
LONDON --Stink, London, and DDB London topped the 2006 British Television Advertising Awards (BTAA), being named respectively, the most successful production company and ad agency of the year in the U.K.
Stink’s win came largely on the strength of spots directed by Ivan Zacharias: Honda’s “Impossible Dream” out of Wieden+Kennedy, London, and Sure (in European markets it’s called Rexona) deodorant’s “Stunt City” for Lowe, London. Zacharias is repped stateside by bicoastal Smuggler.
“Impossible Dream” garnered the BTAA honor as best TV commercial of the year, in addition to picking up Gold Awards in three categories–cars, corporate and best spot over 60 seconds.
Meanwhile “Stunt City” also earned three Golds, topping the best :30 or less, toiletries and European categories.
Taking two Golds apiece were: the U.K. Department for Transport’s teen road safety PSA “Cameraphone” (the best :30 or less and public service categories) directed by Chris Palmer of Gorgeous Enterprises, London (Palmer helms U.S. spots via bicoastal Anonymous Content) for Leo Burnett, London; and Stella Artois beer’s “Ice Skating Priests” (the best over :60 and alcoholic beverages categories) directed by Jonathan Glazer of Academy, London, for Lowe, London.
Also scoring Gold in the alcoholic beverages category was Guinness’ much-lauded “noitulovE” directed by Daniel Kleinman of Kleinman Productions, London. Another high-profile ad, Sony Bravia TV’s “Balls,” got Gold in the best 60 seconds or less category. “Balls” was directed by Nicolai Fuglsig of bicoastal/international MJZ for Fallon, London. And rounding out the Gold winners, in the sponsorship bumpers category, was five’s package of “Cow,” “Horses” and “Pigs,” directed and written by Claire Lambert of hybrid production company/agency Devilfish, London.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More