Codex, which provides in high-end digital recording and workflow equipment for motion picture and television production, has recruited Jurgen Kantenwein as its new head of technical marketing. Kantenwein brings over 20 years of experience in digital film workflow to Codex, gained from working with production and post production companies worldwide, and will take a lead role in developing and marketing the company’s current and next-generation products for motion picture and high-end TV production and post.
Among his career milestones, Kantenwein was a founder, CTO and director of The Posthouse AG in Hamburg and The Posthouse Ltd in Wellington, New Zealand, from 1999 to 2003. During this time he oversaw the deployment of some of the first DI grading systems on Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, helping to co-develop the color grading software used on these movies, which is now Autodesk’s Lustre system. Prior to this Kantenwein consulted as a systems integrator to high-end post houses in Germany and London, including Das Werk, Optical Art, Cinemedia and VTR Group (now Prime Focus).
Kantenwein joins Codex after working for a decade as a technical consultant on 2D and 3D stereo digital film, DI and postproduction system design and installations for facilities across Europe and Asia, including Molinare in London, Focus Fox Studios in Budapest, Hamburg Media School, Elektrofilm in Berlin, Deutsche Telecom T- Online in Frankfurt, plus Filmlab, Century Communications and Pixion in India. Most recently he project-managed the design and installation of an innovative, 4K, data-centric workflow at Spice Shop, a post facility in Bangkok, Thailand.
“Jurgen has a remarkable depth and breadth of data-based workflow knowledge, accumulated over many years working with leading companies around the world,” said Sarah Priestnall, VP of market development at Codex. “His experience and insight into the evolving digital media landscape is invaluable for Codex as the company puts increased momentum into its existing and future product strategies that balance the artistic needs of creative filmmakers with the latest advances in technology.”
“Smart system design and supporting the integration of new, innovative technologies into high-end media and entertainment companies are great fascinations to me,” said Kantenwein. “So I jumped at the chance to work with the remarkable brand that is Codex. In this new technical marketing role, it will be my task to focus on providing new and improved workflow solutions that meet the needs of customers in a dynamic marketplace–today and tomorrow.”
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.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More