Director Matt Ogens has joined bicoastal production studio m ss ng p eces for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Known for his evocative visual storytelling across a variety of media including documentary, narrative, commercials, and branded content, Ogens was previously handled in the ad arena by Bullitt.
Ogens’ breakthrough documentary Confessions of a Superhero premiered at SXSW to critical acclaim, and he subsequently went on to earn a primetime Emmy Award for his ESPN 30 for 30 piece, From Harlem With Love about the famed basketball Globetrotters. Recent projects include the two-time Sports Emmy-nominated documentary series Why We Fight, which Ogens created and executive produced, the News & Documentary Emmy-nominated La Louvre, an augmented reality film for RYOT and Huffington Post, and two films for the UFC 25 Years In Short series which was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award and won a Clio. His feature film Home + Away, which follows high school athletes living on the U.S./Mexico border, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. His forthcoming Netflix original documentary Audible follows students at the Maryland School for the Deaf as they face the pressures of senior year and grapple with the realities of venturing off into the hearing world; it premieres on July 1.
Ogens has also collaborated with leading ad agencies and brands to helm major award-winning work, including the Verizon Super Bowl campaign “The Team Who Wouldn’t Be Here,” which earned three Cannes Lions, four Clio Awards, a Webby Award, and a One Show Award. Additional brands include Ford, Under Armour, Land Rover, Visa, Toyota, IBM, FIFA World Cup, McDonald’s, NASCAR and Ancestry.com.
“I’ve known Matt for several years and am thrilled for our paths to be crossing again. He brings a clarity of vision and an ability to uncover powerful personal stories that are truly special,” said Brian Latt, managing partner, m ss ng p eces.
“I’m so grateful to be reuniting with Brian and working with the rest of the team here at m ss ng p eces,” shared Ogens. “The company is constantly pushing the boundaries of storytelling and working with brands in new and exciting ways, which is so energizing to me and shows a real alignment of our goals.”
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More