By Robert Goldrich
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. --For the second consecutive year, Kim Gehrig of Somesuch has won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award recognizing Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials, This time around, during a gala awards ceremony on Saturday evening (2/10) at the Beverly Hilton, Gehrig earned the Guild honor on the strength of two entries: "Run This Town," a client-direct spot for Apple; and Expedia's "The Travelers" out of Wieden+Kennedy.
Last year Gehrig became just the second woman director to win the DGA's spotmaking award. The first was Melina Matsoukas of PRETTYBIRD three years ago. Now Gehrig becomes the first woman to win the honor twice.
In her acceptance remarks, Gehrig thanked the DGA for making her "feel so supported," her collegues at Somesuch, including company founding partners Sally Campbell and Tim Nash, and first assistant directors David Webb and Zaida Fakih who worked, respectively, on "Run This Town" and "The Travelers."
Gehrig also expresed gratitude to her fellow nominees in the commercials category: Martin de Thurah of Epoch Films; Seb Edwards of Park Pictures; Craig Gillespie of MJZ; and Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks. She credited all their work with inspiring her,
Gehrig additionally gave a shout-out to Greta Gerwig, who was in the audience as a DGA Award feature film nominee for Barbie. Gehrig thanked Gerwig for being a major source of inspiration to her and many others.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More