Worldwide representation also covers music videos
Music video auteur Allie Avital has signed with Smuggler for worldwide commercial representation. Smuggler will also handle the New York-born and raised director for music videos. She had formerly been repped by Partizan.
Earlier this year, Avital’s “Quarrel” video for Moses Sumney won Special Jury Recognition at SXSW. In addition to her four-video series for Sumney, Avital has worked with Kesha, Jidenna, Afro B., Serpentwithfeet, Kelsey Lu, Chromeo, and many more. The director’s work has been Vimeo Staff Picked eight times, featured in The New York Times, NPR, Nowness, Buzzfeed, “best of” lists, has been nominated for Camerimage (Best Music Video and Best Cinematography), and the UKMVAs (2017 and ‘18). Her work has screened at the SXSW competition (Jury Recognition Award ‘19, ‘18), Sundance NEXT, BAM Cinemas, IFC, BUG, Havana Film Festival, and numerous other showcases. She recently participated in the Venice Biennale Cinema College program to develop her debut feature film The Naked Woman based on her short of the same name.
Smuggler has always been a craft driven company and Avital embodies that spirit. Her work draws inspiration from the music video auteur generation of the ‘90s. She represents a new generation of conceptually driven filmmakers using craft and technique in service of the idea. Patrick Milling Smith, co-founder and CEO of Smuggler, assessed, “Allie has that rare, unique ability to tell stories that are equal parts timeless and modern. She embraces the conceptual along with keeping an assured focus on narrative, creating story-worlds entirely her own.”
Avital said of Smuggler, “I’m so thrilled to be part of such an inspiring roster of filmmakers, and to be working with a new team committed to aesthetic and conceptual excellence, who I know will match my ambition and push me to my creative limits at every turn.”
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More