Cadence Films has brought Baltimore-born director Mitch Ryan aboard its talent roster for commercials and music videos. This marks his first-ever spotmaking representation globally.
Known for his colorful, otherworldly music videos for Grammy-winning Latin music superstar RosalĂa–which have accumulated hundreds of millions of views–Ryan also joins Cadence with a skill for contemporary, high-polish campaigns for brands like Collina Strada and Glossier.
“The moment we met Mitch, we knew we wanted to work together. As an artist, he brings a rare sensitivity, openness, and honesty to his films. As a person, his presence and charm are disarming, on and off set, and it shows in the immediate connection he creates between himself and his characters and collaborators,” said Lorenzo Ragionieri, co-founder of Cadence Films.
Ryan, who is based in New York and Paris, brings a cinematic eye and a playfully surreal, emotive sense of storytelling to his work. His ability to apply style without detracting from the authenticity of his subjects was what first led to what has been a long-time collaboration with RosalĂa, with whom his most notable videos are the upbeat, dance single, “Despechá,” which captures the brown-eyed beauty frolicking on a beach, and “Hentai,” which portrays RosalĂa in a bucolic expanse, riding a slow-moving mechanical bull.
This same sense shines brightly on his eccentric, dynamic campaign for luxury fashion brand Collina Strada, which depicts the angular movements of dancers wearing the brand’s innovative clothing, and his newest global Nike Kids campaign, which spotlights parents and their kids sharing athletic firsts together.
“Mitch’s voice is unflinchingly real, and balances subtle, poignant notes with energetic, fun, often humorous beats. Mitch is the real deal, which is what immediately drew Nike to his work, and we were thrilled to kick off our collaboration with a global kids campaign for them,” said Ragionieri.
Currently, in addition to directing commercial projects with global brands and advertising agencies, Ryan is working on a long-form, genre-bending chronicle of RosalĂa’s tour.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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