Humble, the bicoastal integrated production studio founded by Eric Berkowitz, has signed director Raymond Bark for spot and branded content representation in the U.S.
With extensive global production experience, Bark is best known for his strong visual style and distinctive storytelling abilities through captivating narratives and drama. Since signing with Humble, he has already brought his vision and global perspective to projects for brands including Timberland, Ameriprise, Home Depot and Biltmore.
Most recently with Humble, Bark partnered with The Martin Agency and Timberland on a new campaign titled “Always Do, Never Done” which launched this week. The campaign spotlights the Timberland Pro line of clothing and shoes across five spots emphasizing how tough, durable, and comfortable the line is. Bark brought a dramatic and epic filmmaking style to the spots, showing his deep understanding of how to perfectly capture the look and feel Timberland was after. The spots titled: “High Rise,” “Solar,” “Bridge” and “Dam Studwall” began rolling out on broadcast channels and the anthem film, “Sun,” is available across digital and social properties.
Bark began his career in his native South Africa during apartheid, working primarily on action feature films. From there, he moved to Toronto and became involved with commercial production, kicking off with a lauded spot for Amnesty International and has been part of the ad world ever since. Bark brought his talents to the U.S., when he moved to Los Angeles in 2000.
Prior to Humble, Bark was represented in the American ad market by production house GARTNER.
Rich Pring, Humble’s managing director/exec producer, said of Bark, “The way he collaborates with agencies and brands, channeling their vision while infusing his own visual style of storytelling, is unparalleled.”
Bark views Humble as “a place where I have had the ability to truly spread my creative wings.”
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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