Martin de Thurah of Academy Films, London, has directed a hauntingly beautiful film for Swiss air rescue company Rega.
Created by advertising agency Walker Zurich, “Heaven Can Wait” sees a young girl appearing to float up to the heavens following a tragic car accident, only for us to discover she is in fact being rescued and taken to life-saving treatment by the Rega air ambulance helicopter.
Shot over two days in Bucharest with Romanian service company Domino, the 16-year-old star of the film, in her first experience on camera, found herself balanced precariously 60 feet up, on a thin wooden tongue extending from a specially constructed crane platform.
Above her on the platform were the director, the DP, and a handful of technicians, lighting her, and with carefully angled hair-dryers attempting to create a flowing wind effect that would also keep her warm in the freezing conditions.
All the cast were sourced in Romania, except for the helicopter paramedic who was in fact the Rega client.
Simon Cooper, Academy producer, related, “We went to Romania expecting to use a lot of green screen for the flying shots, but in the end we were able to do it all in camera through a combination of our brilliant DOP, a very resourceful and inventive grip department, and a general willingness to make things happen on the part of the Romanian facilitating company. Our thanks to [Bucharest-based production services company] Domino [Productions] for responding positively to our constant demands with a very challenging budget, and also of course to Walker who were an absolute pleasure to work with for the first time. It was such a strong script that Martin jumped at the chance to collaborate with them, and they were really supportive of his ideas right from the start.”
The creative ensemble from Walker included creative director Pius Walker, copywriters Roger Beckett and Benn Callis, and art directors Andrew Smart and Justin Barnes.
The DP was Kasper Tuxen, Line producer was Ileana Anghel.
Editor was Russell Icke of The Whitehouse, London.
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More