Production company Avocados and Coconuts has signed director Matthew Palmer for U.S. representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos. Known for his stylized and cinematic documentary style, Palmer has helmed campaigns for Allbirds, GE, Accenture, Keurig, and Le Creuset, and music videos for such artists as Sam Fischer, Y.S.A.. and Night Hikes.
Palmer also has to his credit several documentaries which he has directed and produced, including One Week in April, a short film about toddler-related shootings in the U.S. The film earned him a slot in the 2017 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes and was screened at the Calgary International Film Festival, Savannah Film Festival and the Tallgrass Film Festival. Palmer’s documentaries and shorts have garnered six Vimeo Staff picks. In addition, Palmer recently directed The Star, a narrative animated short.
“What drew me to Matt’s work was his versatility and ability to tell a great story in a fresh way no matter what the topic is,” says Dalia Burde, founder/executive producer of Avocados and Coconuts. “His drive to always put the story front and center and his passion for the stories he tells resonated with me and aligns really well with our ethos at Avocados.”
Palmer said, “As a filmmaker, I’ve always tried to put my energy and resources toward projects that matter to me personally. Dalia and her team live by this same philosophy and I’m excited that we can build on our brand work together.”
A graduate of NYU with a major in Media Studies and a minor in Film Production, Palmer was previously repped by Little Ugly, where he helmed music videos for Sam Fischer and a short brand film for Call Me Ishmael, an online project celebrating books.
Palmer is currently working on a brand film for lifestyle cycling brand Thereabouts, and has a short film, SHE, making its round in virtual festivals, including the Canadian International Fashion Film Festival and Fashion Film Festival Istanbul. He’s also completing his second feature documentary about Election Day and its impact on different people around the country, which is being associate-produced by Avocados and Coconuts.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting โ quite literally โ into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat โ who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival โ has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive โ a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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