Director Alison Chernick has joined aWHITELABELproduct for global representation, marking her first career signing with a commercial production company. She is best known for her feature-length documentaries and short films covering art, culture and fashion.
Her first feature documentary, The Jeff Koons Show, captured the thoughts and processes of prolific visual artist Jeff Koons.
Chernick soon followed it up with another feature length documentary about avant-garde artist Matthew Barney, titled Matthew Barney: No Restraint, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was acquired for theatrical distribution by The Weinstein Company and IFC. Both films gained worldwide release and were screened at notable festivals and museums around the world.
Chernick’s ability to capture intimate and unvarnished moments of her subjects has made her a sought after filmmaker in art, culture and fashion circles. She has directed several mini-films about iconic art and design personalities such as Julian Schnabel, Marc Newson, Jeffrey Deitch, Pedro Almodovar and the infamous restaurant in Spain, El Bulli. On the commercial side, utilizing her documentary approach she independently directed a BMW spot featuring author Glenn O’Brien, and won a Promax award for the HBO promo “You’ve Got Mail.”
Chernick’s recent short film, Confessions of Steve McQueen, can be viewed at the Louis Vuitton on-line magazine Nowness.com, where she is a regular contributor. Shot during the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, it’s a film ruminating with British director Steve McQueen in his hotel room while discussing his forthcoming feature film Shame. Chernick often toggles between covering real topics and creating fiction. The prolific director won best screenplay for her fiction short titled The Couple, which played the film festival circuit this year.
On the list of Chernick’s projects is her next feature documentary about the mysterious and intriguing French artist/fashion designer Martin Margiela. Chernick is currently shooting a video series of 10 short films, in which contemporary artists are enlisted to star in remakes of seminal video artworks, prompting a dialogue between the original artwork and the artist reinterpreting it. First is James Franco as Bruce Nauman in a contemporary update of Nauman’s Art Make-Up video piece from 1967. Further details on the series will be announced as more installments are completed.
In the feature film arena, Chernick is developing a project inspired by Maurice Pialat’s 1972 French drama Nous Ne Vieillirons Pas Ensemble / We Won’t Grow Old Together, which she is scheduled to shoot in late 2012. She will also be shooting a short video piece commissioned by the Tate Modern in London for an upcoming exhibit.
Chernick’s work has been screened at various museums around the world, including the five Guggenheims, The Smithsonian, SFMOMA, and The Walker. She comes aboard aWHITELABELproduct directorial roster that includes Arni & Kinski, Mikael Jansson, Aneil Karia, Darius Khondji, Peter Lindbergh, Carlos Manga Jr., David Michalek, Paul Middleditch, Panoptic, Adria Petty, James Pilkington, Eugenio Recuenco, Tim Richardson, Nick Robertston, Stephane Sednaoui, Benjamin Seroussi, Carter Smith, Tell No One and Mathieu Wothke.
Karla Sofía Gascón Could Make Trans History For Role In “Emilia Pérez”
Karla Sofía Gascón's performance in "Emilia Pérez" as a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirmation surgery to become a woman has brought her global acclaim and set Gascón on a path that may make her the first openly transgender actor ever nominated for an Oscar. But on this morning, she's feeling contemplative. "I woke up with such a philosophical streak," Gascón says, smiling. "In life, everything can be good or bad. We are a mix of so many things. There are things that make you happy and instead they make you sad, or the other way around." The dichotomies of life are a fitting subject for Jacques Audiard's "Emilia Pérez," a film that puts just about every genre — musical, crime thriller, melodrama — into a grandiose mixer, and, by sheer nerve, manages to coalesce into one of the year's most memorable movie experiences. "Emilia Pérez," which began streaming Wednesday on Netflix, is widely expected to be a best picture nominee. At the center of the "Emilia Pérez" phenomenon – which began with a barn-storming premiere at the Cannes Film Festival — is Gascón who plays both the menacing cartel kingpin Manitas and the woman who emerges after Manitas fakes his own death, Emilia Pérez. Years later, Emilia contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Zoe Saldaña) to her reunite with her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children. The wild swings of "Emilia Pérez" – a movie that has earned comparisons to both "Sicario" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" – wouldn't be possible without Gascón. In Cannes, she and her co-stars shared in the best actress prize, which Gascón accepted. "We've been insulted, denigrated, subjected to a lot of violence without even knowing why," Gascón said that evening. "I think this is award is so much more... Read More