Curfew, a production company founded in 2014 by directing duo Mark & Spencer (Mark Smith and Spencer Dennis), has added directors Madeline Kelly and Haya Waseem to its roster for commercial and branded content representation in the U.S.
Kelly hails from Sydney, Australia, where she fell in love with storytelling from an early age. Her first short film Nineteen told the deeply intimate and empathetic story of a terminally ill young man seeking his first sexual experience before his time ran out. The film won Best Film and Audience Awards at prestigious LGBTQ film festivals in Sydney and Melbourne and went on to screen at fests worldwide. Her wanderlust and curiosity led her to New York where she’s directed for clients such as Pantene, Maybelline, Spotify, Champion, and MTV. Her most recent project is a documentary with Universal Music about Boy & Bear lead singer Dave Hosking’s triumph over illness to record their latest studio album.
Curfew marks Kelly’s first U.S. representation in the ad arena. She had been directing freelance in the American market, with Curfew producing that work.
Director Waseem, born in Pakistan, raised in Switzerland, and now living in Brooklyn by way of Canada brings her eclectic experience and singular voice to Curfew’s roster. With a background in documentary editing, her curiosity and acute attention to detail shape the stories she tells and deepen her rich, character-driven narratives. Her previous short films, all shot on 35mm film, have screened at TIFF, Cannes, and Berlinale among others, while recent branded work includes campaigns for Lyft and the ACLU. Her most recent short film The Ballad, shot on 65mm, was presented at a screening held by BWGTBLD in Berlin alongside the work of Vincent Haycock, Jodeb, Pantera, Philippe Tempelman and Jared Knecht. Waseem was formerly represented by Variable.
Curfew has produced campaigns for brands including AT&T, Adidas, Mercedes-Benz, Jack Daniel’s, Hyundai, Lincoln, MoMA, eBay, Doctors Without Borders, MTV, and A&E Networks.
