Director Ali Ali has joined Little Minx for commercials and branded content in the U.S. He comes aboard a company roster consisting of such diverse filmmakers as Luca Guadagnino, Malik Sayeed, Augusto de Fraga, A.V. Rockwell, Andrew Dosunmu, Rodrigo Prieto and Carissa Gallo.
Ali continues to maintain Good People Films in his native Cairo. His work caught the eye of Little Minx founder Rhea Scott who’s enthused over his prospects in the American ad market. Ali had earlier been repped in the U.S. by Cultivate Media.
Ali’s international work spans campaigns for such brands as Vodafone, Google, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Orange Telecom. His body of work one year earned him inclusion in The Gunn Report’s rundown of the world’s top ten most-awarded directors.
Ali made his first industry mark on the ad agency side of the business, serving as an at director and creative director at the Germany offices of Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson and McCann. He then became ECD at DDB Berlin. In 2010, Ali co-founded the creative boutique Elephant in Cairo. A year later it was named one of the world’s three most exciting new agencies at the Cannes Lions. He walked away from that agency success in 2012 to focus full time on his directing career. Today he divides his time among Cairo, Athens and now the U.S.
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