May 18, 2013
Academy Award-nominated director Darren Aronofsky has partnered with a pair of spot industry veterans, executive producers Ted Robbins and Sandy Haddad, to open commercial production house Chromista. Aronofsky earned a Best Director Oscar nomination and was a DGA Award nominee on the strength of Black Swan, for which he won the top directing honor at the Independent Spirit Awards. He has also directed notable commercials for The Meth Project, Yves St. Laurent and Revlon. Rounding out the Chromista directorial roster are Kasra Farahani, Daniel Portrait of Kamp Grizzly, Xavier Mairesse, and Walter May. Aronofsky’s longtime features producer Scott Franklin will serve as an executive producer….Joseph Kosinski, director of commercials, films and TV, has joined Reset for worldwide representation in advertising. He thus reunites with long-time colleagues, executive producer/managing director Dave Morrison and filmmaker David Fincher–the three were previously together at Anonymous Content. Kosinski’s second feature film–Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman–was released last month and at press time had grossed more than $250 million worldwide. The director’s feature film debut, Tron: Legacy, grossed over $400 million and earned Oscar and Grammy nominations. His commercial work–marked by stunning visuals and design, as well as a seamless mesh of live action and effects to advance narrative–spans such clients as Gears of War, Chevrolet, Halo and BMW…..Moxie Pictures has signed director Kathi Prosser for U.S. representation. She comes over from The Sweet Shop, where she collaborated regularly with agencies including BBDO, JWT, Arnold, Saatchi & Saatchi and Y&R. Her body of work ranges from opulent fashion campaigns to provocative PSAs. Recently, Prosser joined Dove’s cadre of female self-esteem advocates, opening a candid window into the fallen dreams of little girls whose passions are stifled by negative self worth in the stirring :30 “Girls” out of Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto…..
May 23, 2008
SHOOT’s 6th annual New Directors Showcase offers a total of 38 up-and-coming helmers filling 30 slots (23 individual directors, a three-person team and six directorial duos)….Lost Planet topped the seventh annual AICE Awards with three wins, two for editor Paul Martinez who topped the Storytelling and Visual Effects categories with Radio Shack’s “Record Problem” and PepsiCo’s “Pinball,” respectively. And Lost Planet editor Jennifer Dean won the Music Video category for the “Cold War Kids: Hospital Beds”….Design/animation/visual effects studio Smoke & Mirrors, New York, has added VFX supervisor/sr. Flame artist Kirk Balden. He most recently served as a VFX supervisor/Flame/Smoke artist at a52 in Santa Monica, Calif…Director James Wahlberg, who first established himself in animation and then successfully diversified into live action, has joined Los Angeles-based Rhythm+Hues for exclusive spot representation….
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