Icelandic director Thorhallur Saevarsson, professionally known as Thor, has joined Madheart, Los Angeles, for exclusive representation stateside. It’s the first affiliation with a U.S. company for Thor, who is well established in Europe with credits spanning such clients as Philips, McDonald’s, Vodafone, Fuji, T-Mobile, Peugeot, GE, Coca-Cola, Deichmann and Skoda.
Thor, who got his start as a teenager working on American commercial shoots in Iceland, burst onto the scene in 2002 when his short film Autograph took Silver and Audience awards at the Nike Young Directors Awards. A year later, he was included in Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase at Cannes. Since then, he has helmed scores of spots in affiliation with such production companies as London’s Stink, Denmark’s Moland Film, Germany’s Tempo Media and Slovenia’s Super 16.
Thor’s work defies simple categorization in terms of style and genre but much of it involves character-driven stories, sometimes told through fast paced action. A case in point is a recent commercial for German sports retailer Deichmann in which a man leads police on a harrowing chase across urban rooftops. The scene has the feel of a Hollywood action film. Following a series of narrow escapes, the man is cornered by a SWAT team–who’s after his shoes.
Thor’s directing credits also include a number of car spots, including a recent effects-driven campaign for Czech automaker Skoda. In it, a couple driving through a city suddenly finds themselves in an African landscape, filled with giant waterfalls, tropical birds and a ghostly herd of elephants.
Thor was introduced to Madheart executive producer Lisa Phillips through his Scandinavian agent Martin Bartdrum. “I was immediately taken by her meticulous approach to marketing and sales,” Thor recalled. “I also heard great things about her way of producing from other directors.”
Madheart is represented on the West Coast by Lisa Gimenez Toliver, Catherine DeAngelis of Hot Betty in the Midwest, and Dana Dubay on the East Coast.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More