Bicoastal production company Durable Goods has signed director/cinematographer Adriano Falconi for exclusive representation in North America. He has helmed campaigns for such brands as HP, Tesla, Infiniti, UGF and Volkswagen.
“Adriano is a creative and inventive filmmaker,” said Mike Brady, executive producer at Durable Goods. “His ability to tell compelling emotional stories connects with the viewer, and helps to cut through the clutter. It’s obvious that he has a unique sensibility to his emotional insights and storytelling, and his cinematography is both beautiful and immediate at the same time.”
Born in Milan, Falconi attended film school where he also completed studies in fine arts. He rose through the ranks in the camera department, starting in Milan, and later, throughout Europe. In 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, where he made his home for the next 10 years, before moving to the East Coast for its ease of access to Europe. Since 2004, he has made a name for himself as a director, working on commercials worldwide for such agencies as Havas, Publicis, BBDO, DDB, McCann, BETC, and Saatchi & Saatchi, among others. Prior to joining Durable Goods, Falconi had been repped by Concrete + Clay in the U.S. market.
Most recently, Falconi completed a short film called Thomas, which he conceptualized and directed as a spec piece for The Trevor Project. The film is currently being submitted to a number of international film festivals.
“I’m excited to see where my partnership with Durable Goods takes me, especially as brands and agencies embrace commercials and content that articulates the human experience in a way that’s reflective of our changing world,” adds Falconi. “This is the kind of work I gravitate towards as a director. It’s never easy, but if you surround yourself with partners and talent who are as committed as you are to going the extra mile, magical things happen. Durable Goods and its clients provide a strong foundation for me to tap into that magic more than ever before.”
Falconi is also represented by Eddy.TV in France, The Box Films in Italy, and Hoben.TV for the UK and Europe.
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 — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — 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 — 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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