Global independent creative agency GUT has brought on board the executive creative director team of Ariel Abramovici and Bruno Acanfora. Hailing from TBWAChiatDay LA where they served as global creative directors, this award-winning pair will be responsible for working on GUT’s roster of clients. Both Abramovici and Acanfora are based in Los Angeles, and report to Juan Javier Peña Plaza and Ricardo Casal, who are partners at the agency and who will now be serving as executive creative directors for the entire North America region.
With almost 20 years of experience in the industry, Abramovici and Acanfora have won multiple international awards from Cannes Lions, The Clios, The Effies, Webbys and more over the course of their careers. To date, the pair has worked together in Buenos Aires, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles on some of the world’s biggest brands, including Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike, NBA, DIRECTV, Disney+ and Gatorade. At TBWAChiatDay LA, they were the creative leads on the Gatorade global business, working together on its “Water Made Active” campaign, as well as its “Heart of a Lio” campaign, which was viewed by more than 300 million people. For the NBA, they helped create its “This Is Why We Play” campaign, as well as helped launch streaming giant Disney+.
A statement from Abramovici and Acanfora read, “GUT is becoming known for creating big, successful ideas that not only create a lasting impact on culture, but also help brands solve their biggest business challenges through creativity. The opportunity to work with the team and to help tell a brand’s best story through creativity, data, strategy and craft is going to be a lot of fun. We’re looking forward to working alongside the creatives to help them develop and nurture their ideas, and seeing how we can continue pushing the boundaries of creativity to help each client’s business continue to grow, as well as help them infiltrate pop culture.”
Meanwhile Peña Plaza and Casal jointly stated, “We’ve been admiring Bruno and Ari’s work for years, watching them do extremely powerful ideas for some of the biggest brands in the world, so when the chance came for them to join us, it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’, only a matter of ‘when’. The energy and excitement they bring to the team is contagious, and we know they will help us continue to do incredible things not only with our clients, but also with our team through their leadership, mentorship and passion for creativity.”
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More