Director Claudia Alberdi has joined greatguns: USA, the Venice-based shop headed by managing director Tom Korsan. Alberdi’s previous company affiliation was bicoastal Original Film.
Alberdi’s body of work includes commercials for such clients as McDonald’s, Sears, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Lands End, Pantene, Noxzema, Nestle, AOL, Crest, Tide, Laura Ashley, Chandon and Wellaflex.
Raised and educated in Argentina, Alberdi developed a passion for filmmaking. This led her to study at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif., where she began helming short films and commercials. Her first short film, Red, premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival, and was bought by and aired on the Independent Film Channel.
She has recently wrapped The Mark, a film that centers on a ghost story set in New England in the late 18th century.
Alberdi comes aboard a greatguns: USA directorial roster that includes Eden Diebel, Frank Ockenfels, Lisbon Okafor, Lizelle Wagner, Luis Gerard, Michael Goode, Michael Ozier, Tim Ward, T.J. Hall, and Gurinder Chadha. The latter, a noted feature filmmaker from (Bend It Like Beckham), recently made her spot debut with Gibson Guitar’s “Empress” for Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis. “Empress” earned SHOOT “Top Spot of the Week” distinction earlier this year (2/24).
Director/DP Ozier recently started his directing career with greatguns: USA, helming campaigns over the past several months for BMW, Toyota, Ford, and Bank of the West. He is well known for his automotive photography and lensing of extreme sports. His DP credits include a Nissan Xterra campaign, as well as multiple commercials for Honda, Toyota, Ford, Energizer, American Express, Sprite and assorted international advertisers.
Greatguns: USA is handled by a sales force of independent reps Mary Ford on the East Coast, Maureen Butler in the Midwest, and Siobhan McCafferty on the West Coast.
By Robert Goldrich
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More