APRIL 12, 1996/Visual effects and animation house Colossal Pictures, San Francisco, essentially is shutting its traditional commercial production arm to focus on content development for TV, feature films, and new media, plus design work for TV, Web sites, and others….San Francisco-based live-action/visual effects house Complete Pandemonium has signed directors Robin Steele, Heidi Holman and Gordon Clark. Leading Pandemonium are executive producer Stelio Kitrilakis and head of production Arthur Lang, who co-founded the firm after departing Colossal Pictures last May….
APRIL 12, 1991/Director David Kung has signed with Creative Partners, New York, having been left rep-less by last month’s closing of Santandrea Productions, New York. Kung directs through Nash, Morris, Messenger in London….Bill Rabin & Associates, Chicago, has added production com-pany Elite Films, with offices in Santa Monica and New York, to a spot-repping roster that already boasts New York production companies Johns+Gorman Films and Griner/Cuesta & Schrom…. Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein, San Francisco, dominated the television portion of the fifth-annual San Francisco Show. The firm copped five gold awards in TV and earned Best of Show distinction….
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More