Australian production house Prodigy, headquartered in Sydney, has opened a New York office under the aegis of executive producer Nic Barnes, who will also be responsible for sales and marketing of the North American operation. Ms. Barnes is a seasoned producer with 11 years experience in the New Zealand and Australian advertising and TV industries. Prodigy’s full roster of directors-including Tim Bullock, Tina Bull and James Hackett will be repped stateside. Prodigy also intends to add to this roster, bringing U.S.-based directors on board. Prodigy also maintains offices in Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland, N.Z. The overall company is headed by owner and Sydney-based exec producer Jonathan Samway….Jeff Beckerman–former president of New York-based The Cutting Vision–has launched Bond in New York. The new venture will specialize in editing, motion design and post for TV and alternative media. The editorial team from now-closed Cutting Vision has come over to Bond. They are Greg Kiernan, Luis Lacau, Gustavo Bernal, Scott Pezel, as well as Beckerman. According to Beckerman, Bond plans to increase its graphics capabilities and to add new creative talent to the roster….Director Dan Self has joined @Large Films, Portland, Ore.
“Atropia” and “Twinless” Win Marquee Prizes At Sundance Film Festival
The war satire “Atropia,” about actors in a military role-playing facility, won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. dramatic competition, while the Dylan O’Brien movie “Twinless” got the coveted audience award.
Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prizewinners Friday in Park City, Utah.
Other grand jury winners included the documentaries “Seeds,” about farmers in rural Georgia and “Cutting Through the Rocks,” about the first elected councilwoman in an Iranian village. The Indian drama “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears),” about a city dweller mourning his father in the western Indian countryside, won the top prize in the world cinema competition.
“It’s for my dad,” said writer and director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade. His late father, he said, was the one who encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.
Audiences also get to vote on their own awards, where James Sweeney’s “Twinless,” about the bromance between two men who meet in a twin bereavement support group, triumphed in the U.S. dramatic category. O’Brien also won a special jury award for his acting.
The U.S. documentary audience award went to “André is an Idiot,” a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer. Other audience picks were “Prime Minister,” about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and “DJ Ahmet,” a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.
Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning Associated Press journalist, won the world cinema documentary directing award for his latest dispatch from Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between the AP and PBS Frontline.
“Here’s to all... Read More