AICP Week is back, and with it comes a new format for presenting and celebrating the winning work in the AICP Awards competitions: the AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial, the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Post Awards.
The full program of winners in each show will be screened during the day at the AICP Base Camp headquarters, located at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan where an accompanying series of panels, seminars and tributes will also be taking place. This will allow holders of the AICP All Access pass to view them on their own schedules, as each show will Premiere, and then repeat, several times at Base Camp throughout the Week.
The best in show winners for each competition–The AICP Show Advertising Excellence and Advertising Excellence/Campaign winners, the Next Awards’ Most Next and the AICP Post Awards Best of Show–will debut during a special presentation at MoMA on June 9, followed by a gala reception. Following this, one final screening of each show will take place in the MoMA theaters. On hand for this event will be the chairperson for the AICP Show, Mal Ward of Arts & Sciences, and the chairperson for the AICP Post Awards, Yvette Cobarrubias of Cosmo Street, along with Matt Miller, AICP president & CEO.
To view the full Base Camp schedule of Premieres, screening and panels, click here. To secure passes for AICP Week, go here.
Base Camp Highlights
AICP’s work in promoting greater diversity will be a featured part of the Base Camp lineup, with four sessions devoted to the latest news and developments in this important initiative. AICP’s Miller and Tabitha Mason-Elliott, chairperson of AICP’s Equity & Inclusion Committee, will sit down with the Association’s newly named VP of Equity & Inclusion, Sheila R. Brown, to discuss her new role at AICP and provide a look ahead at her plans for the industry’s push for greater diversity and inclusion.
Tamika Lamison, executive director of the Commercial Directors Diversity Program, the joint effort of AICP and the DGA to promote greater diversity among the directorial ranks, will join with Roxanne Artesona, owner of Roxanneandco and a member of the CDDP Advisory Board, to provide an overview of how the CDDP has already made its mark on the population of commercial directors and reveal its plans to have an even greater impact moving forward.
Finally, AICP’s E&I leadership, along with some of the most proactive ad agency heads of production, will discuss ways the industry can create real change when it comes to expanding opportunities for underrepresented talent and minority-owned companies.
Sustainability in production is another topic that will be the subject of two separate panels. In the first, experts involved in the sustainable production initiative Green The Bid will discuss the latest efforts to make commercial production a greener process and help curtail its GHG footprint. In a follow up to this, representatives from agency, brand, production and post production perspectives talk about the transformative action they’ve taken, share what they’ve learned along the way, and consider what they’ll do to continuously move to becoming zero waste, net carbon neutral, and regenerative.
AICP Week is also bringing back its “Curators in Conversation” session, in which members of the curatorial or judging committees for each show engage in short, unstructured discussions on a range of issues, sharing the stage with a partner of their choosing. Taking part in the session will be Nathy Aviram, chief production officer, McCann; Jen Dean, editor, Cut+Run, Chris Franklin, editor, Big Sky Edit; Bianca Guimaraes, partner/executive creative director, Mischief; Anna Hashmi, co-founder/executive producer, The Corner Shop; Craig Lewandowski, editor, Utopic; Julia Neumann, chief creative officer, Johannes Leonardo; Bill Oberlander, founder/chief creative officer, OBERLAND; Gloria Pitagorsky, managing partner, Heard City; Avelino Rodriguez, CEO & founder, The LIFT; and Daniela Vojta, EVP, executive creative director, BBDO.
Another highlight of Base Camp will be its day-long Business Affairs Boot Camp, AICP’s annual deep dive into a diverse array of issues and trends facing all facets of the industry. (Normally only available as an ala carte ticket, this year it’s being included in the AICP Week pass while still being available ala carte.)
Among the topics to be covered at the Boot Camp are the new SAG-AFTRA contract; an overview of legal and practical issues of working with blockchain, NFTs and the metaverse; and an update on cyber security threats, particularly as they relate to crypto currencies, NFTs, the metaverse and the protection of intellectual property. The event includes a lunch and learn session sponsored by Wrapbook, the digital-first payroll solution, then wraps up with the ever-popular Lawyers on the Clock session, in which a group of industry attorneys are asked to do the impossible: frame and answer some of the most burning legal questions in two minutes or less.
The AICP Post Council will be represented with two panels at Base Camp: The first, “The Healthy Hybrid,” will examine how the hybrid postproduction environment that’s becoming more commonplace today impacts technology, workflow, bookings and the concept of acceptable social boundaries. A second session, “To Be or Not to Be in the Room,” presents a discussion between agency creatives and postproduction artists on how to get the best results out of editing, color and mixing sessions in a hybrid setting, versus in-person sessions.
A Nod to Great Accomplishments
Also taking part at Base Camp will be two special tribute events. On Tuesday night, June 7, at 6pm, a tribute to the life and legacy of Ringan Ledwidge will be curated by Rattling Stick and friends. Ledwidge was one of the most prolific and creative commercial directors of the past 20 years. The evening will highlight his body of work and feature remarks and tributes from friends and colleagues. The event will be preceded by a cocktail reception at the Angelika, starting at 5 pm.
The following evening, at 6 pm on Wednesday, June 7, the AICP Post Council will honor the award-winning editor, company owner and industry leader Clayton Hemmert of Crew Cuts as he is inducted into the AICP Post Hall of Fame. Also being celebrated at this event will be the winners of the Camp Kuleshov Lev Awards, presented annually from among the chapter winners in the AICP’s trailer competition in the categories of Editorial, Sound Design and Graphics. This event will also be preceded by a cocktail reception starting at 5 pm.
The AICP Show and The AICP Next Awards are preserved in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators.
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More