German director Andreas Link has signed with Bodega, a production house with bases of operation in N.Y. and San Francisco, for U.S. commercial representation. He has already wrapped a two-spot package via Bodega for Toyota out of MMB, Boston. Link’s other recent credits include a visually driven spot for LOT Polish Airlines produced by Poland house Cut/Cut for DDB Warsaw.
Link was previously repped in the U.S. by HSI. His spotmaking over the years spans such clients as BMW, McDonald’s, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and Panasonic.
After growing up in a small village near Frankfurt, Germany, Link began exploring his visual aesthetics working as an assistant photographer in fashion and advertising throughout Europe. Seeking to branch out on his own, he moved to Berlin in the late 1990s where he worked as a freelance photographer for five years. Seeking a more serene scene, Link went back to Munich where he jumped into the world of broadcast design, crafting station and programming identities for German television networks and episodic programming.
In 1998, he began shooting spots for top German production companies including Markenfilm, Tempomedia and Gap Films until June 2009, when he was seriously injured in a helicopter crash during a Porsche shoot in Portugal. He spent the next 16 months in the hospital and fully dedicated himself to recovery, returning to spots with the visually inventive all CG spot “Touch” for Audi A6 out of Phillip und Keuntje, Hamburg.
“Andreas brings such a broad skill set to the table–design, direction, editing, photography, visual effects,” assessed Clint Goldman, Bodega executive producer/partner. “His recent work for Toyota and LOT is truly exemplary and his soup to nuts thinking complements the Bodega production model effortlessly.”
Directing and Editing “Conclave”; Insights From Edward Berger and Nick Emerson
It’s been a bruising election year but this time we’re referring to a ballot box struggle that’s more adult than the one you’d typically first think of in 2024. Rather, on the industry awards front, the election being cited is that of the Pope which takes front and center stage in director Edward Berger’s Conclave (Focus Features), based on the 2016 novel of the same title by Robert Harris. Adapted by screenwriter Peter Straugham, Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as the cardinal leading the conclave that has convened to select the next Pope. While part political thriller, full of backstabbing and behind-closed-door machinations, Conclave also registers as a thoughtful adult drama dealing with themes such as a crisis of faith, weighing the greater good, and engaging in a struggle that’s as much about spirituality as the attainment of power.
Conclave is Berger’s first feature after his heralded All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of four Oscars in 2023, including for Best International Feature Film. And while Conclave would on the surface seem to be quite a departure from that World War I drama, there’s a shared bond of humanity which courses through both films.
For Berger, the heightened awareness of humanity hit home for him by virtue of where he was--in Rome, primarily at the famed Cinecittà studio--to shoot Conclave, sans any involvement from the Vatican. He recalled waking up in Rome to “soak up” the city. While having his morning espresso, Berger recollected looking out a window and seeing a priest walking about with a cigarette in his mouth, a nun having a cup of coffee, an archbishop carrying a briefcase. It dawned on Berger that these were just people going to... Read More