Beast Editorial has brought three new editors aboard: St�phane Pereira and Kyle Brown who join Beast Los Angeles; and Karen Kourtessis who will work out of the New York office.
Kourtessis’ career launched with the U.S. Army where she shot and edited training films and news stories. When she scrapped her fatigues and moved to New York City, she landed a position at Crew Cuts and cut her teeth editing for brands such as Visa, Pepsi, Pizza Hut and Dr. Pepper. In 2006, she was invited to be a partner at Crew Cuts, a position she held until early 2013. Kourtessis’ body of work over the years spans storytelling with comedy, documentary, visual style and people/dialogue fare. Her efforts have garnered awards recognition, among the highlights being Pella Windows’ “Elopement” spot which she cut (and Mike Bigelow directed) for Y&R New York. She’s also cut music videos for artists such as Lloyd Banks, Ryan Leslie and Melanie Fiona. Her film work includes award-winning shorts, documentaries for Google and a short documentary that premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
Pereira has been freelance for a number of years. He began in Paris cutting documentaries and then diversified into commercials for brands including Peugeot, Dior, Nike, Kenzo, Sprite and BMW. Pereira has crafted fantastic worlds and stories in his collaborations with directors such as Lionel Mougin, Antoine Bardou-Jacquet and The Elvis. Pereira has also cut features, including Asterix & Obelix: Meet Cleopatra, the 4th highest grossing film of all time at the French box office.
Brown had most recently been cutting at production house Prettybird. His credits include short films, documentaries, two seasons of a comedy series for Starz, and spots for Fiat, Visit Florida, Pepsi and Jack Daniels.
Brown, Pereira and Kourtessis are available through all of Beast’s seven shops–L.A., NY, Austin, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More