Director Lenard Dorfman has signed with O Positive for commercial representation. His first campaigns at his new roost are for FedEx via BBDO New York and the New York Lottery out of DDB NY, which will begin airing this month.
Among his notable credits are the Village Voice's 2012 Cannes Gold Lion-winning campaign "New York Writes Itself" for Leo Burnett, NY, Coca-Cola's "The Commentary" in which we feel the passion of a blind football fan in a stadium, and Volkswagen's "Grand Slam," a subtle comedic spot which demonstrates the car's remarkable sturdiness through the unabashed habits of its door-slamming owner.
Dorfman was last represented by RSA Films following a lengthy tenure at @radical.media. He has directed commercials for Nike, AmEx, IBM, GE, Guinness and Mercedes-Benz, among others. Among his more recent endeavors are the "Tribes" campaign for the FFA Hyundai A-League Football championship, Bank of America's "Morning," and a film and ad campaign starring French football legend Zinedine Zidane that helped the Middle East win its historic bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Dorfman has earned numerous accolades, including Cannes Lions, D&AD distinction, One Show Pencils, AICP Show honors, BTAA Arrows and a 2001 DGA Award nomination for Best Commercial Director of the Year. He became a DGA nominee on the strength of such work as his two Summer Olympic-themed IBM spots–"Harlem Fencer" and "Senegal Women's Basketball"–for Ogilvy & Mather, New York.
Dorfman began his career directing documentaries, with his first films–Dancing With Cowboys, The Lost Cowboys and The Youngest Cowboy–commissioned by Canal Plus France and broadcast globally. He also counts the pilot of Sundance Channel's pioneering Iconoclasts series, featuring Tom Ford and Jeff Koons, among his credits.
"I've been fortunate to work regularly on either side of the pond," said Dorfman. "This has enabled me to pursue a variety of work that I love doing, namely narrative storytelling and subtle comedy along with more documentary, real people storytelling. I think this range of work makes for a terrific fit to the directors here at O Positive."
Review: Steven Soderbergh’s Eerie Haunted House Drama “Presence”
The camera is the ghost in Steven Soderbergh's chillingly effective, experiential haunted house drama "Presence." The filmmaker traps the audience in a beautiful suburban home, letting us drift through rooms with this curious being, in and out of delicate conversations as we (and the ghost) try to piece together a puzzle blindly.
Often in haunted house movies where a new family moves in and starts sensing strange things, the ghost knows exactly what they want — usually their house back. In this one, the presence doesn't have such a clear objective. It's more confused, wandering around and investigating the surroundings, like a benevolent amnesiac. Occasionally, though, big emotions erupt, and things shake violently.
Mostly, they go unnoticed. They observe the chipper real estate agent (Julia Fox) preparing for a showing, the painting crew, one of whom believes there's something around, and finally the family and all the complexities of its dynamics. Lucy Liu (a delightful, wickedly funny scene-stealer) is the mom, Rebecca, a wealthy, successful, type-A woman hyper focused on the success of her eldest, a teenage boy named Tyler (Eddy Maday). The father, Chris (Chris Sullivan), is more of the nurturer, concerned about their teen daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) in the aftermath of her friend's unexpected death.
There is a family drama transpiring inside the house, only some of which will make sense in the end. We overhear Rebecca drunkenly telling Tyler that everything she does is for him. We listen in as Chris confides to someone on the phone about a hypothetical partner being involved in something illegal and whether they still would be if legally separated. We see Tyler often with his head buried in his phone. And then there's Chloe: Sad,... Read More