Director James Holt has joined Giraldi Media for stateside representation. Holt, who resides in Auckland, N.Z., continues to be handled Down Under by Film Motel, which is headquartered in Sydney. Holt is no stranger to the American ad market, having earlier directed via Aero Film and prior to that, Flying Tiger.
Known for his work in comedy and storytelling marked by a strong sense of design, Holt has over the past six months helmed assorted jobs for Unilever Australia as well as Procter & Gamble and Purina. His ad credits over the years span such brands as Visa, MasterCard, Guinness, Nissan, Foxtel, Vodaphone, and New Zealand Cheese.
For the latter, Holt directed “Spies,” a quirky comedy spot which earned him Best Director honors at the New Zealand Axis Awards competition. Paired with “Diplomat,” another spot in the NZ Cheese campaign, “Spies” earned Holt a finalist nod for Best Director at the London International Awards.
Holt began his filmmaking career directing various short films, documentaries and music videos before breaking into advertising. His commercialmaking exploits have taken him around the world to direct for major brands.
Director Bob Giraldi of Giraldi Media observed, “It’s nice to have another storyteller in house, especially one that makes people laugh.”
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More