Bicoastal/international Station Film has signed director Mark Gilbert for worldwide representation except in Canada where he continues to be handled by Toronto-based Untitled Films. His directing credits span such clients as Ikea, DirecTV, Marmite, Pepsi, Mentos, 7-Up, Nicorette and KIA. Gilbert’s work has garnered recognition at Cannes, D&ADs, Clios and the ANDY Awards. He gained inclusion into the 2004 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase in Cannes.
Prior to joining Station, Gilbert had been handled stateside by production house Hello!
Recent work for Kia through Publicis, Toronto exemplifies Gilbert’s wry rendering of the ridiculous. The campaign features disastrous situations swiftly soothed by the presence of a new Kia Soul:
“Cabin” features four adorable girls ruminating alone in a remote cabin. A masked psychopath arrives, peeks in with deadly intent. He’s ready to strike – until he spots a Kia Soul parked outside. Peering into its irresistible interior he become oblivious to his slasher desires, lulled to sleep by the car’s impressive decor.
Gilbert graduated with a BFA from the University of Western Ontario before a photography career beckoned, winning awards at The One Show and Communication Arts – plus the cover of Photo District News magazine. A year sabbatical came next, traveling through Morocco, Cuba, Nepal and Thailand where Gilbert captured compelling portraits of people, images that won travel assignments from National Geographic, Travel and Leisure, GQ and Elle.
Gilbert parlayed that success into directing commercials, signing with Reginald Pike and Biscuit Filmworks where he shaped spots with a natural affinity toward comedy. UK work followed through London agencies BBH, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Mother and DDB, all integrating his vision with quirky creative on ads that became a hit with the Brit crowd.
Gilbert said he was drawn to Station’s directorial talent and its affinity for compelling visual comedy. “My observational eye segues nicely into the roster. I feel that ads using clever comedy are underutilized, so see a lot of potential in the road ahead.”
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