Partizan has signed filmmaker and photographer Matt Baron. The production company will handle him as a director globally for commercials, branded content and music videos.
Baron’s body of work includes spots for adidas, Tommy Hilfiger’s “Drive” ad featuring Gigi Hadid, fashion films for Vogue, and socially conscious fare such as his #metoo-inspired film for Nest. His branded films span such clients as Beats by Dre, Gatorade, Moncler, H&M, and Kendrick Lamar. Along the way Baron has garnered a Grand Clio, a Silver Clio, two Bronze Cannes Lions, and an MTV VMA nomination.
As showcased in his most recent spot for RIMOWA luggage featuring Yuja Wang, Baron works closely with his talent to bring out spot-on performances, and fosters emotion in a manner that connects with a global audience. This ability to communicate across markets was a factor drawing him to Partizan, which maintains studios in London and Paris (both offices cover the rest of Europe), New York, Los Angeles, and representation in the Middle East, China, and South America.
Baron said, “I like that Partizan is a company with a unified vision of what an artist can achieve on a global level. Being repped by one team worldwide gives directors like me room to reach our goals on a much broader scale.”
Partizan founder Georges Bermann described Baron as “young, talented and ambitious, with a strong and unique creative point of view. He knows how to develop and portray character, even in short formats, and that’s a very important skill set. Above all, he’s passionate, and is excited to direct music videos, as well as commercials and other content, branded or not.”
Prior to joining Partizan, Baron was repped by Alldayeveryday in the U.S. ad market.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More