Director Christine Jeffs has signed with Xenon, the N.Y.-based house headed by exec producer/founder Doug Robbins, for exclusive U.S. spot representation. Jeffs was formerly repped in the ad arena by bicoastal Saville Productions. The director has been active in both feature films and commercials.
Jeffs has been active in feature films and commercials. On the former front, her credits include: American indie Sunshine Cleaning (2008), starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin, in which, to raise the tuition to send her son to private school, a thirty-something single mom starts an unusual business–a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up company; Sylvia (2003), a British motion picture starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig, which explored the relationship between poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes; and Rain (2002), a family drama about the collapse of a marriage and the dissolution of a mother-daughter relationship. Rain–Jeffs’ feature screenwriting and directing debut–was selected for its world premiere in the Directors Fortnight at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival.
Currently Jeffs is in development on a romantic comedy, Wonderful Tonight, with Castle Rock Entertainment.
As for commercials, Jeffs’ currently airing work includes Kohl’s and North Shore LIJ Health System from DeVito Verdi. Other U.S. ad credits are Seasonique and the U.S. Census, among others. Internationally her spots span such clients as Baileys, Land Transport NZ, Bank of New Zealand, and the New Zealand Police. Jeffs’ commercial work has earned her a shelf full of awards including a Cannes Bronze Lion, New Zealand’s CAANZ creative excellence Axis Award for direction three years consecutively, and a number of Australian awards.
Jeffs began her career in New Zealand as an assistant editor on feature films and documentaries including Crush (1992) starring Marcia Gay Harden, Absent Without Leave (1992), Ruby and Rata (1990) and Send a Gorilla.
Jeffs wrote, directed and edited the short film Stroke (1994), which centers on a lone swimmer who gets revenge on a group of lane swimmers who disrupt her tranquility. Stroke was screened at festivals worldwide including Cannes and Sundance
When not behind the lens, Jeffs lives on a ranch in Auckland, N.Z., with her partner John Toon, cinematographer of Sunshine Cleaning and her other films.
Jeffs joins a Xenon creative directorial roster that includes Jamie Way, Ash Beck, Vico Sharabani, Three Volts and Stacy Toyama.
“Captain America: Brave New World” Tops Weak Weekend At The Box Office
"Captain America: Brave New World" kept falling but still hovered above all others at a weak weekend box office.
The latest Disney-Marvel offering brought in another $15 million according to studio estimates Sunday, when most of Hollywood's attention was on the Oscars.
The Anthony Mackie-led "Captain America: Brave New World" opened strong at about $120 million on a three-day weekend last month, but plunged to $28.2 million last week in one of the most significant second-week drops for a Marvel movie. It's earned $163.7 since its release.
It was slammed by many critics and audiences, failing to bring the Marvel reset some had hoped for. That task now falls to May's "Thunderbolts" and July's "Fantastic Four: First Steps." But "Captain America" will face little competition through March, and could remain at No. 1 for a while.
The weekend's only significant new release, Focus Features' "Last Breath," earned just $7.8 million. The based-on-a-true-story adventure starring Woody Harrelson, Simi Liu and Chris Lemons is about a routine deep-sea diving mission that goes terribly wrong when a young diver is stranded some 300 feet below the surface.
It got strong reviews, with Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press praising the "white-knuckle experience" and "pure suspense and anxiety" it brings.
At No. 3 was Oz Perkins' "The Monkey," which brought in $6.4 million for a two-week total of $24.6 million. It's among the strongest openings for indie distributor Neon, whose film "Anora," and its director Sean Baker could make a major mark at the Oscars later Sunday.
"The Monkey" marks another successful low-budget collaboration between Perkins and Neon, whose "Longlegs" brought in $126.9 million globally last year.
"Paddington... Read More