The Artists Company and its longtime director/executive creative director Otis Mass have announced an amicable split. The news comes on the heels of the theatrical release of their feature documentary The Incomparable Rose Hartman, directed by Mass with The Artists Company owner/executive producer Sally Antonacchio who served as the film’s EP.
The Incomparable Rose Hartman rolled out at Manhattan’s newly renovated Quad Cinema and is scheduled to open on July 7 at the Laemmle Monica in Santa Monica, Calif. As part of Laemmle’s unique “Art in the Arthouse” initiative, the run there will be accompanied by an in-house exhibition of Hartman’s iconic celebrity, nightlife and fashion photography. Gravitas Ventures will be releasing the film in North American on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray on August 29.
Said producer-director Mass: “I am so lucky to have had a 20-year run at such a respected and storied shop as The Artists Company, where Sally helped me grow into the director I am today. We will always share an amazing journey called Rose Hartman, from which I learned a greater fluidity in storytelling and also what’s possible in the quickly changing landscapes of the Ad arena.”
Said Antonacchio, “I am so proud of what we were able to achieve together creatively in both the advertising and feature film worlds. I wish Øtis the very best.”
A world premiere at SXSW and then screened at over a dozen festivals including Toronto’s HotDocs and DOC NYC, The Incomparable Rose Hartman exposes the irascibly candid, recently-turned-80-year-old woman behind some of pop culture’s most enduring images, particularly from the Studio 54 era and her pioneering work behind the scenes of 7th Avenue. Some have called her “the Tasmanian Devil of photography.”
A presentation of The Artists Company and Massive Original, the 70-minute film was also produced by Mass along with Bob Fisher. In addition to Antonacchio’s role as EP, Eric Schmollinger and Hartman served as co-executive producers.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More