Madheart has signed director Sandro Suppnig for exclusive representation in the U.S. The Austrian-born director, who splits his time between New York and Paris, has developed an international reputation for his involvement in the creation of visually rich campaigns for such fashion brands as Missoni, Alessandro dell’Acqua, Dsquared, Pepe Jeans, Energie and Miss Sixty.
Suppnig has recently garnered wide acclaim for his work for the European hair-care giant Schwarzkopf and BBDO Germany. His two-minute film You: A Declaration of Love, about a man’s elaborate marriage proposal, has generated more than 13 million views on YouTube. He has since booked three projects scheduled to shoot next month in Germany, Austria and Italy.
The L.A.-based Madheart will seek new projects for Suppnig in all major U.S. markets. The company’s sales network includes Mark Andrews on the West Coast, Hot Betty in the Midwest and Sarah Lange in the Southeast. It is currently securing new representation partners for New York and the East Coast, which it sees as particularly fertile ground for Suppnig and other recent additions to its roster, including Gemma Lee, Josh Traywick, Mark Altschul and Stefan Austmeyer. The company has just wrapped its first production with Lee for Barclaycard/US Air and American Airlines out of Iris Worldwide, New York. Lisa Phillips is exec producer of Madheart.
Educated at the Université Paris Dauphine and at UCLA School for Film, Suppnig is fluent in German, English, French and Italian. He got his start as a director in New York, founding Magellan Films in 2010, and began directing short films for luxury brands. They include An Obsession, a steamy cocktail of beauty, seduction and lust starring French actor David Kammenos (Trainsporter 3, Empire of Wolves) and German supermodel Katrin Thormann. Shot on location in Paris, it features fashion from the collections of Dior Homme, Maison des Talons, Lanvin, Veronique Leroy, Zac Posen and Iceberg.
He followed that with The Necklace Affair, a tale of a love triangle set in a 14th century Austrian castle, for the jewelry brand Linn Lømo. The film’s sensuous, rich visuals were inspired by classic French and Italian cinema. “My aim is to make visually beautiful films that evoke emotion and touch people,” Suppnig explains. “When I begin a new project, I seek first to discover its soul, to understand the brand identity, and what my client needs. My approach is to consult, communicate, inspire and create.”
“I’m constantly observing things,” Suppnig adds, “watching people, situations, moments. Sometimes I take notes or pictures, sometimes these observations simply become memories. Then one day, they reappear in modified form in a film.”
