New York Festivals® International Advertising Awards will honor director Bob Giraldi of bicoastal Giraldi with one of the first ever NYF Living Legend Awards. The filmmaker, whose work spans commercials, music videos, shorts, and features, is scheduled to receive the honor on Thursday, May 5, at the 2011 International Advertising Awards “The New York Show.” Earlier that day he will present a keynote speech, “MY LIFE IN TWENTY–A Lifetime Making TV Commercials & Teaching Others How to Do it Better.”
The NYF Living Legend Award recognizes prominent industry luminaries whose personal excellence and extraordinary contributions have advanced the field of advertising, made a lasting impression on the creative community, and who continue to influence the profession in a significant way.
Giraldi made his first industry mark on the agency side of the business. One of the original Mad Men, he served as a creative director at Young & Rubicam, New York. During his tenure he won numerous awards, and in the middle of the early advertising creative revolution he earned the distinction of being named as one of “101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising.” He made a smooth transition to the director’s chair and has directed more than 4,000 commercials thus far in his career. Giraldi’s advertising campaigns include the Pepsi-Cola campaign with Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, as well as commercials for the Miller Brewing company featuring celebrities such as Dick Butkus, Bob Uecker, John Madden, and Rodney Dangerfield.
Giraldi’s unique visual and musical storytelling abilities set the tone in the early days of MTV music videos. His video for Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” won numerous awards including that year’s coveted American Music Award, the Billboard Music Award and the People’s Choice Award. Giraldi has worked with such music legends as Pat Benatar, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ricky Martin, Hall & Oates and Will Smith.
Giraldi’s feature film, Dinner Rush, with Danny Aiello, John Corbett and Sandra Bernhard, appeared on a number of 2001’s Top 10 lists such as Newsweek and was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Films Series at MoMa. Among all the awards it was also listed by Roger Ebert as “One of the Best 100 Films in the Last 10 Years.” Giraldi also is the director of Jon Cryer’s Hiding Out.
On the short film front, Giraldi’s The Routine, premiered at Sundance and won Best Drama at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival. His My Hometown is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame’s permanent collection, and two short films; Dream Begins, and A Peculiar City, both integral parts of New York’s national Olympic bid, are now in MoMA’s permanent collection. The director’s latest short, The Grey Coat, is a N.Y. story of a hardworking immigrant Korean family being extorted by two dirty cops and the emergence of an unlikely hero.
Of being selected to receive Living Legend Award, Giraldi related, “I’m humbled, I’m honored, and I’m happy to be recognized — It gets better all the time, just like a 1991 Brunello di Montalcino.”
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More