Director Christopher Gruse has joined NY-based Washington Square Films for U.S representation. His credits include campaigns for such automotive brands as Infiniti, Acura, Honda, Ford, Lincoln and Chevy. The director’s “Speed Dating” spot for Mustang made a major viral mark, amassing more than 13 million views and garnering an Effie Award and a Shorty Award.
In addition to his commercials, Gruse recently directed a documentary Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win that focuses on the STRESS unit of the Detroit police department in the 1970s, and is slated to be released this summer.
Gruse noted, “What attracted me to WSF was the diversity within their roster, and the company itself, from commercials to feature films. Their integrity and focus is what made this decision really simple and I think I bring a new element to the roster, coming from a car background.”
Gruse found his way behind the camera through his passion for music. A lifelong drummer, he formed creative collaborations through tour pals which led to the formation of production and post shop The Work in 2011. Handling entire productions in-house all the way through post, the Detroit-based shop quickly grew to become a studio generating work for some of the city’s leading car brands. The Work turned out the aforementioned “Speed Dating.”
Gruse was earlier represented under The Work moniker by Native Pictures.
Jonathan Schwartz, managing director of Washington Square Films, said, “Christopher is incredibly sharp and brings a high attention to detail in all of his work. He is great with the movement and action of car work, but generally brings a distinct sense of humanity, narrative storytelling and performance that transcends the genre.”
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More