4th Annual New Directors Showcase
On May 25, SHOOT unveiled its fourth annual New Directors Showcase reel. The 25 helmers–including three two-person teams–selected for the Showcase come from diverse backgrounds. However, the bond they share is great style, vision and commitment–whether it be reflected in comedy, visuals or storytelling. Helping fashion the Showcase lineup were entries from SHOOT‘s ongoing “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery, assorted submissions, and feedback from agency creatives and producers. Here’s a look at this year’s field:
Michel Comte
Form
Jaguar’s “Gorgeous”
Michel Comte was unavailable for comment at press time. He first established himself as a noted still photographer with international ad assignments for the fashion houses of Ungaro and Chloe. He continues to shoot for such clients as Gianfranco Ferre, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Versace, Revlon, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Lancome. Comte also portrays numerous celebrities in the arts and entertainment, ranging from Julian Schnabel to Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Carl Lewis and Mike Tyson. Comte’s work is seen in such publications as American Vogue, Italian Vogue, L’Uomo and Vanity Fair. He has also diversified into photo-reportage. On photo assignments for the International Red Cross, for example, he has traveled to war zones and unstable areas in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia.
In fall 2005, Comte directed TV spots and a package of print ads for Jaguar. This year, he has added to his filmography a second installment of Jaguar commercials, Maurice Lacroix Watches featuring tennis star Roger Federer, as well as several spots for Swiss TV and the Red Cross. Comte also conceived and directed a short film, Shared Waters, to coincide with charitable endeavors to increase the availability of potable water in underdeveloped countries. Comte is currently in pre-pro on his debut feature.
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More