By Robert Goldrich
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. --Bradford Young–an accomplished cinematographer whose lensing of Denis Villeneuve's Arrival earned an Oscar nomination in 2017–has now also gained recognition from a different set of peers for his directorial talent, winning the DGA Award in the Commercials category during a gala ceremony at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday night (3/12).
Young–whose production company affiliations are Serial Pictures in the U.S. and Somesuch in the U.K.–scored the DGA Award for his U.K. Channel 4 Paralympics promo spot “Super. Human.” out of agency 4Creative, London. The spot shows that this special breed of athlete is not only “super” but deeply “human” as Young delves into what the pursuit of the Paralympian dream entails–the adversity faced, the sacrifices made, the doubts behind the strength.
While Young couldn’t be on hand for the DGA Awards proceedings at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, he still contributed to history as just the second person of color to win the DGA honor for commercialmaking–the first being Melina Matsoukas of PRETTYBIRD who received the award last year.
Young topped this year’s field of nominees which also consisted of: Steve Ayson of MJZ; Kathryn Bigelow of SMUGGLER; Henry-Alex Rubin, also of SMUGGLER; and Ian Pons Jewell of RESET.
Young, Bigelow and Jewell are first-time nominees in the Commercials category. However, Bigelow overall has three career nominations–the other two coming in the theatrical feature competition. She became the first woman to win the marquee DGA feature honor for The Hurt Locker in 2010. Three years later she was again nominated for Zero Dark Thirty.
Ayson meanwhile has garnered four career DGA nominations for his commercialmaking–the first coming in 2013, then in 2019 and again last year.
Jez Oakley served as Young’s first assistant director on “Super. Human.”
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More