Integrated production company 1stAveMachine has added director Ben Steiger Levine to its roster. Levine comes over to the New York-based house from bicoastal aWHITELABELproduct; he continues to be handled in Canada by Spy Films, Toronto.
Getting his start in Canada, where he received multiple grants to produce his short films, Levine has since successfully diversified into directing music videos and commercials.
Levine’s films often border on bizarre and beautiful, hinting at themes of humanity and existence through clever re-imagination of the human form. His filmography includes Heavens to Purgatory where deconstructed bodies act as living decoration, and “You Are Never Alone” for the band Socalled where the lead artist’s face is re-appropriated as a film projector.
“Mr. Hurricane,” Levine’s Grammy Award-nominated music video for Beast, helped gain him inclusion into Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase in 2009. In the clip, a swarm of bees discovers its own fleeting human soul. That ’09 Saatchi Showcase, incidentally, also featured work from 1stAveMachine directors Aaron Duffy and Antonio Balseiro.
“I love to experiment in my work. 1stAveMachine is a great place for me, because they’re always pushing the envelope and doing the most interesting stuff,” said Levine.
Serge Patzak, 1stAveMachine’s co-founder, noted that Levine’s work “translates well across many platforms” spanning traditional and non-traditional media.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More