Pulse Films has added director Tom Emmerson to its talent roster for global representation spanning music videos and commercials.
This marks the first production company representation for Emmerson, an English and French director from North London. His most recent music video is for AntsLive’s single, “Number One Candidate.” The cinematic video features panoramic views, and quick-fire frantic edits of the Italian Dolomites. The video has been met with acclaim from critics and stirred a social media frenzy.
Emmerson’s directorial credits additionally include videos for Mimi Web, Col3trane and A$AP Nast. Also a skilled photographer, Emmerson started shooting stills as young as 14 and, by 18, had photographed global campaigns for the likes of Helmut Lang, Burberry, and Fila.
Enthused over joining Pulse, Emmerson said of his new colleagues at the company, “They continually produce some of the best work in the industry–I can’t wait to join forces. I’m confident we’re going to do some incredible work.”
Nnena Nwakodo, Pulse Films’ executive producer, said, “Tom’s ‘Number One Candidate’ video for AntsLive is what got my attention, a bold, playful and outrageous idea with an exceptionally tasteful execution. Can’t wait to see what we do together.”
James Sorton, Pulse’s managing director of commercials in the U.K., added, “I’ve already run out of superlatives to describe Tom. He’s a multi-hyphenate talent, with exceptional taste, a unique sensibility and point of view. His brilliant video for AntsLive is just a taster of what is to come.”
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More