Hornet has signed director Sam Mason for global representation. Mentored by director Pete Candeland whom he later teamed with to co-helm some select films, Mason has gone on to firmly establish himself as a director with worldwide campaigns for Coke, Toyota, Mazda and Honda as well as music videos with Sofi Tukker. Mason is known for his CG style that reflects his lo-fi/hi-fi hybrid approach to filmmaking. He prefers to utilize emerging technologies to apply a physicality and textured realness to his films. He especially likes to start with real objects and from there set up constraints that he can work within, like he did with his collaboration with Hugo Marie for the animated short Little Things where they scoured vintage markets for objects that could ground the film….
Matthew Klar has been promoted to VP, strategy of MKTG Canada. He has worked with some of the largest and most recognized national and global brands while playing a lead role in launching the MKTG brand in Canada after the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network in 2016, He has spearheaded the launch of two new service offerings at MKTG Canada. The first was Creative Services to augment and elevate MKTG’s experiential offering by adding specialized talent to the organization focused on enhancing ideation and design abilities. The second was Property Insights which is a specialized brand strategy practice for sponsorship properties across Canada, advising them on vision, positioning and creative development. Klar also headed MKTG Canada’s original content strategy, leading to the creation of 500+ pieces of original content reaching a network of 4,000 stakeholders including industry leaders, influencers and clients around the world. In his new role, Klar leads the expansion of MKTG’s expanding Strategy & Creative services, while also taking on expended responsibilities within MKTG’s senior leadership team….
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