International Director Enters Stateside Market.
By SARAH WOODWARD
Noted international commercial director Agust Baldursson has signed with Orbit Productions, Hollywood, for commercial representation in the U.S. A division of Orbit Entertainment Group, Orbit is the commercial production house under the aegis of president/executive producer Lee Nelson and principal/director Dror Soref. The signing marks Baldursson’s first foray into the stateside commercial market. He continues to be represented in Germany by Markenfilm, Wedel, Germany, and in Italy by BRW & Partners, Rome and Milan.
Already Baldursson has completed his first assignment under the Orbit banner: Toyota Camry’s "Too Sexy" via Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Torrance, Calif. The ad broke nationwide in October.
The director’s other recent credits include ads for Alpha Romeo 156 for the European market via Milan agency Conquest, and produced by BRW & Partners; McDonald’s via DDB, Copenhagen, and produced in-house by the agency for the Scandinavian market; and Nissan Premiere via TBWA, Barcelona, and produced by the Directors Gallery, Barcelona, for the European market.
Nelson said he was impressed by Baldursson’s reel and feels the director’s visual sensibility and point of view bring something new to the stateside commercial market. "His work is varied: There’s some comedy, some image-oriented film and some auto, but all of it has a look and a unique point of view. It’s very fresh," Nelson said.
For his part, Baldursson said his attraction to Orbit stemmed from Nelson’s enthusiasm and industry knowledge. "We met this summer and that was enough," he said. "I feel very comfortable [with Orbit]."
A native of Iceland, Baldursson’s interest in the U.S. market dates back to his college days. He studied film and photography at Columbia University in New York and later at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. "I really like it [in the U.S.] and sometimes feel I have more in common with the commercial work here," he said.
Baldursson got his professional start on two Icelandic feature films: The White Seagulls, on which he served as first camera assistant; and Reykjavik, Reykjavik, on which he was second unit DP. He made his commercial directing debut in ’85 with a PSA for the Icelandic Cancer Society. The following year, he directed a documentary about Icelandic rock band Strax.
In ’88, Baldursson relocated to Copenhagen to pursue commercial directing in Scandinavia. Over the next five years, he built up a client base that led to award-winning work for Danish Telecom and Volkswagen, among others. In ’93, he secured commercial representation in Germany and the U.K. through Markenfilm and Limelight, respectively. The latter association led the director to briefly relocate to London.
Baldursson has directed commercials for Ford, Schweppes, German Telecom, Mercedes Benz, Texaco, Toyota, Blockbuster, Nokia and Honda. In addition to his formal associations with Markenfilm and BRW & Partners, which has repped the director for the past three years, the director is active on a freelance basis in Spain, France and England. He currently lives in Iceland and Sarasota, Florida, but is considering establishing a residence in Los Angeles.
Baldursson joins an Orbit directorial roster that, in addition to Soref, includes Danny Weisberg, Wim Wenders, Don Barnard and Roger Spottiswoode. The company recently secured New York-based Sharon Lew of Lew & Co. for East Coast sales. Orbit is represented by L.A.-based Andrew Halpern on the West Coast, and Chicago-based Robin Pickett in the Midwest.
Review: Writer-Director Adam Elliot’s “Memoir of a Snail”
It's not your typical stop-motion film when characters name pets after Sylvia Plath and read "The Diary of Anne Frank" — or when the story's inspired by a quote from existentialist thinker Søren Kierkegaard. And it's certainly not your typical stop-motion film when you find yourself crying as much as the characters do — in their case, with huge droplets leaking from bulging, egg-shaped eyes so authentic-looking, you expect the screen to get wet. But those are just a few of the unique things about Adam Elliot's "Memoir of a Snail," a film that's as heart-tugging as it is technically impressive, a work of both emotional resonance and great physical detail using only clay, wire, paper and paint. One thing Elliot's film is not, though, is for kids. So please take note before heading to the multiplex with family in tow: this film earns its R rating, as you'll discover as soon as young Grace, voiced by Sarah Snook, tells us she thought masturbation was about chewing your food properly. Sex, nudity, drunk driving, a fat fetish — like we said, it's R-rated for a reason. But let's start at the beginning. In this, his seventh "clayography" (for "clay" and "biography"), the Australian writer-director explores the process of collecting unnecessary objects. Otherwise known as hoarding, it's something that weighs us down in ways we can't see, for all the clutter. Elliot also argues that it helps us build constrictive shells around ourselves — like snail shells, perhaps. Our protagonist is Grace Pudel, voiced with a quirky warmth and plenty of empathy by the wonderfully agile Snook. We first encounter Grace as a grown woman, telling her long, lonely life story to her pet garden snail, Sylvia (named after Plath), at a moment of deep sadness. Then we flash... Read More