Production company Society has added director Jian Luo (“Layla”) to its roster, marking her first U.S. representation. With international work for clients such as Mercedes-Benz and Nescafé, she consistently infuses brand stories with truthful, human connection.
Society executive producer Jason Heller said, “We are always looking to expand our roster with directors who bring a unique point of view and align with the values of Society. Layla has a strikingly beautiful visual style and has a natural ability to tell stories empathetically, highlighting both real people and characters with cinematic flair.”
Layla shared, “Both Jason and Society founder Harry Calbom are very hands-on when it comes to creative collaboration and that is something that really excites me as a director.”
Born in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of China on the Gobi Desert, Layla is a visual storyteller whose work is driven by a desire to explore versions of the world unseen. She graduated with an MFA in Film Directing from NYU and holds her BA degrees in sociology and film studies. Her short film What Do You Know About the Water and the Moon tells a magical-realist story about a young woman who gives birth to a jellyfish during an attempted abortion. Premiering at the 2019 Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, it screened at dozens of top-tier festivals and won several awards before it launched the NOWNESS Asia platform in June 2020. Layla is the recipient of the Ang Lee grant, the Hollywood Foreign Press Award, and was in the “artist in residence” program at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. In between her directing work, Layla educates students at the School of Visual Arts as a guest lecturer. She divides her time among New York, London and Beijing.
The addition of Layla comes on the heels of the announcement that Society founder Calbom had shifted into directing full time, with Heller stepping up as EP.
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