Director Marcel Langenegger has joined A Band Apart, Los Angeles, for exclusive representation in the U.S. His former stateside affiliation was Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles.
He made his first major mark with the memorable Doctors Without Borders PSA, “Borderline,” for Advico Young & Rubicam, Zurich, in 2000. At the outset of the spot we see stitches closing a wound in human flesh. But rather than turn away from this sight, the suturing piques viewer curiosity. Slowly it’s revealed that the skin has a map on it, and the stitching is bringing back together the war torn Kosovo and surrounding countries.
Done while Langenegger was with now defunct Propaganda Films, “Borderline” went on to win a Gold Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in ’01 and a Gold Clio the following year.
Langenegger’s recent endeavors include his being in Chile to direct a two-minute Toyota spot via Circle Productions, Toronto, for Saatchi & Saatchi, Toronto. The commercial debuted during the Canadian airing of the Academy Awards and tells a Romeo and Juliet style story of a woman from a town called “Need” and a man from a town called “Want.” Also among Langenegger’s latest work is a Swiss Postal Service campaign in which he traveled the alpine country interviewing real people about their experiences riding the postal service’s bus line. That project was produced by Chocolate Films, Zurich, which represents Langenegger in Europe.
As for why he chose A Band Apart, Langenegger cited its prowess across multiple disciplines–commercials, music videos and long form. “It is one of the few commercial companies with a strong and established presence in features,” he said, adding that also factoring into his decision were his longtime friendships with A Band Apart managing director Jeff Armstrong, and producer Lawrence Bender, who heads the company’s feature film operations. Langenegger is currently under contract with Fox to direct his first feature, The Tourist, set to shoot in the fall.
Langenegger joins A Band Apart directorial roster that also includes Coodie & Chike, Brendan Donovan, Per Dreyer, Derek Horn, Jennifer Little, Moses, Michael Palmieri, Corbett Scott, Martin Weisz, Andy Dick and James White.
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More