Click 3X has secured director Vellas (Felipe Vellasco) for exclusive representation in the U.S. and Canada, working in tandem with Sentimental Filme, his S๏ฟฝo Paulo, Brazil-based production company. Vellas’ spot for Leica, entitled “Soul,” earned five Lions at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity–a Film Craft Gold Lion for Cinematography, a Film Craft Silver for Direction, Film Craft Bronzes for Art Direction/Product Design and Editing, and a Silver Film Lion in the Retail Stores category.
Additionally, “Soul” garnered Vellas a slot in this year’s Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase which was unveiled during the Cannes Fest.
Sentimental Filme produced “Soul” for F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, S๏ฟฝo Paulo, The cinema commercial introduces the Leica M-Monochrom a digital camera that shoots in black and white. The documentary-style piece is told from the POV of the camera itself while being used over the decades by a war photojournalist.
“I was immediately attracted to the Leica spot and to Vellas’ work as a whole,” recalled Click 3X live action managing director/exec producer Megan Kelly. “His aesthetic falls completely in line with the direction I want to take Click’s roster–focusing on intimate, highly creative work. Additionally, our partnership with Sentimental Filme in Vellas’ home country significantly broadens Click’s horizons on an international level, giving us the ability to shoot in Brazil.”
Prior to Cannes, “Soul” had earned a pair of Gold Clios, two Yellow Pencils at D&AD, and a Gold One Show Design Award.
Vellas was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1982, moving to S๏ฟฝo Paulo in 1995. He got his start in the advertising industry as an art director in the creative departments of agencies such as DM9DDB and Ogilvy & Mather. He eventually moved into the production space, working as an art director and animator for production companies. This quickly led to his first directorial projects, with Vellas joining the Sentimental Filme roster in early 2012.
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More