Community Films has signed director Marius Crowne, who’s been selected for SHOOT’s 2016 New Directors Showcase. The 14th annual Showcase will be formally unveiled and celebrated this Thursday (5/26) evening during a screening, panel discussion and after party at the DGA Theatre in New York.
Crowne joins a Community directorial roster which includes Seth Gordon, Jared Hess, Michael Patrick Jann, Matt Smukler, Pam Thomas, Clay Tweel, Clay Williams, and Emil Möller. Community Films is headed by exec producers Lizzie Schwartz and Carl Swan.
Raised in the Appalachian steel town of Ashland, KY, Crowne earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian Literature at The University of Kentucky before moving on to studying film at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). After moving to New York, he landed his first job as an ad agency copywriter and spent some time in Paris collaborating with English photographer Katerina Jebb on a video installation starring the likes of Tilda Swinton, Kylie Minogue, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Since then, Crowne has directed content for ACNE, BLK DNM, L.L. Bean, Glade, and Harper Collins.
He has also directed PSAs for The United Nations High Council for Refugees, The Union of Concerned Scientists, Michael Bloomberg’s gun control initiative “Everytown,” and The Syria Campaign. His PSA “The Encyclical”–a parody action movie trailer about Pope Francis and Jesus fighting climate change–was covered in news outlets from NBC Nightly News to People Magazine to The Guardian.
