Director James Stewart and his Toronto-based Geneva Film Co. have partnered with L.A.-headquartered TATEUSA to head T-3D, a TATE division formed last year to specialize in producing stereoscopic content for agencies and brands. Stewart has been producing, directing and evangelizing for 3-D content over the past decade. He is an acknowledged authority on 3-D, having served as a speaker at last year’s SHOOT Directors/Producers Forum at the DGA Theatre in NYC as well as such events as the Cannes Lions and the TED confab, with a repeat engagement slated for Cannes in 2013.
Stewart has directed 3-D spots for such clients as Toyota, Samsung, Lexus and Sprint. He will be available to direct via T-3D as well as executive produce for other directors on the TATEUSA and T-3D roster. T-3D also plans to make its services available to agencies and clients for projects that have their own director in place. Additionally T-3D can tap into the roster of leading stereographers as well as the extensive equipment and technical resources at the 3D Camera Company (3DCC), the Toronto-based company that has been a pioneering force in stereoscopic image technology.
Since its launch in summer of 2011, T-3D has had a collaborative relationship in place not only with 3DCC under the aegis of Bill White, but also with entrepreneurs Syd and Jacob Kessler who have a partnership with White and 3DCC for 3D advertising related projects worldwide. The Kesslers are mainstays in Canada’s advertising and production communities and have made a major imprint in the 3-D arena.
Initially T-3D was headed by veteran spot production executive Michael Romersa and his colleague Danny Llewelyn (SHOOTonline, 7/13/11). Romersa and Llewelyn exited the T-3D venture at the beginning of 2012. TATEUSA president and executive producer David Tate, however, maintained T-3D and has now landed Stewart to head the division. T-3D brings together TATEUSA, Kessler/White, 3DCC and Geneva Film Co., marshalling extensive 3-D talent and resources in the U.S. market.
Furthermore, director Patrick Lussier has joined both the TATEUSA and T-3D rosters. Lussier is an accomplished editor (Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn, Scream and Red Eye) and director. In the latter capacity, he has to his credit several 3-D features, including Condition Dead, Drive Angry, and My Bloody Valentine 3D. He and Stewart bring major 3-D expertise to T-3D’s directorial ranks. Additionally as an exec producer, Stewart plans to play an integral role in diversifying select directors on the TATEUSA commercialmaking roster into 3-D content for brands. Among those who figure to dovetail into 3-D is TATEUSA director Steven Antin.
Bullish on 3-D
The addition of Stewart was characterized by Tate as being an “important move” that “puts teeth in our belief that 3-D will be for advertising what sync sound was for movies…His [Stewart’s] knowledge and clarity bring to our group a unique certainty that will be essential in gaining the trust of agencies and clients. It also ensures that directors will be able to utilize the new language of 3-D to its maximum creative and communicative effect.”
Antin and other helmers at TATEUSA and/or T-3D, including both Stewart and Lussier, also figure to benefit from being able to collaborate with the alluded to stereographers and other talent at 3DCC. This 3DCC lineup includes stereographers William Reeve, John Reeve and Dylan Reade as well as post supervisor Ken MacNeil.
William Reeve is recognized as a pioneering 3D stereographer with credits that include Saw 3D, Dinosaurs Alive, Legends of Flight and Volcanoes of the Deep Sea. (All but the latter had their 3D production facilitated by 3DCC.) His son John Reeve is a stereographer and camera operator whose body of work spans Queen Elizabeth in 3D, Rescue 3D, Lord of the Dance 3D, The Red Show and Cobu 3D, with 3DCC handling the 3D production for all. And stereographer/3D cameraman Reade has served as a specialist in IMAX 3D production since 1988. His credits include nearly 50 IMAX films such as Legends of Flight 3D (3D production by 3DCC), Born To Be Wild 3D, Under the Sea 3D, and Space Station 3D. And post supervisor MacNeil’s 3D exploits include Saw 3D, concert productions for such artists as Kylie Minogue and Michael Flatley, and TV projects.
Stereographers encompass multiple disciplines such as that of production designer, cameraman and choreographer. On the production design score, leading stereographers draw storyboards and design shots meticulously. On the camera front, stereographers discuss and provide expertise on what focal lengths, angles and other lensing considerations will best capture what’s required of a story or scene. And in a choreographer capacity, stereographers envision how shots should cut and mesh together.
“Once we demystify 3D for creatives and producers, the impact of this new form becomes quite clear as we have seen in cinemas, and are now seeing on TV, tablet and mobile,” said Stewart.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More