Filmmaker Fernando Livschitz has joined production company Logan Industry for U.S. commercial representation.
Livschitz’s work stands apart for its “magical realism” sensibility, in which narratives unfold organically to depict the extraordinary as something ordinary and common. His latest commercial, “Anywhere can happen” is for Singapore’s commuter network Zig via agency Mother. It combines live action, stock footage and postproduction, for a fantastical and surreal journey through the country.
“I have always appreciated the concept of magical realism,” said José Nuñez, founding partner/executive producer, Logan Industry. “All of Fernando’s work–commercials, content and visual art–has a fun and uplifting spirit that reveals the magical in the everyday and makes what he does special and astoundingly original.”
Livschitz–who earlier in his career had been with Havoc Content for spot representation in the U.S.–has a body of commercial work which spans clients including Real Madrid, Audi, Singapore Rediscovers and Piraeus Bank. He has also directed many acclaimed short films that are viral hits. Among the highlights, Lost in Motions, an ambitious stop-motion piece for Argentina’s “Artists Locked Down” pandemic project using over 800 individually laser cut elements painstakingly positioned and shot frame by frame; and the highly praised opening credits for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a tilt-shift aerial portrait of NYC as you’ve never seen it before shot over three months in New York with two months of post in Buenos Aires.
“As a director, I love showing how great life can be, and always strive to capture its magic and energy,” Livschitz said. “I try to create a charming, mind-boggling mood. I cast actors who come across as real and raw and use camera movements and visual resources that emote just as much as the characters they capture.”
About a decade ago, Argentine native Livschitz created his breakthrough short Buenos Aires Inception Park, which won a YDA Award at Cannes. The FX-driven film casts the metropolis as an amusement park, with people discovering its charms riding their favorite rides across the skyscape. Another original short, Rush Hour, portrays the mad chaos of an Argentina intersection at rush hour, with bicyclists and pedestrians narrowly escaping a deluge of cars. Although it looks shockingly real, it’s not.
Livschitz’s directorial career has taken him around the world, everywhere from the U.S., Spain, Greece and France to Russia, Dubai, Singapore and Thailand. He values a sense of camaraderie with production partners and was drawn to Logan Industry for his U.S. representation because of its production expertise and close-knit creative culture.
“I feel a family mood here,” Livschitz said. “It’s not the average production company with dozens of directors and producers. José and his executive producers Paul [Kawasaki] and Marthinus [Lamprecht] are a collaborative team who care about my work and are invested in what I want to do. I’m excited to start shooting!”
“I feel better about life after watching his work,” Lamprecht said. “When agencies see his work, they often invite him to be involved in the creative and concept early. While he’s skilled in FX, he likes to do as much as possible in camera, to shoot practically and take things out. Each piece he does is unique and amazing. After eighteen months of pandemic life, the world needs a smile. Fernando is that cherry on top of the cake.”
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More