Matt Miller, president and CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), has announced that Michael Sagol, managing director/executive producer of Caviar, will serve as chairman of the 2014 AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the American Commercial. As part of his Show Chair duties, Sagol will preside over AICP Week, which includes the AICP Next Awards, as well as the Directors Lecture Series.
“I am honored to serve as the Chairman of the AICP Show, and to oversee AICP Week,” said Sagol. “The Show and the events during the week celebrate the craft and creativity of commercial filmmaking. For the past 23 years, the Show has provided a window into the culture of a given year. It will be wonderful to see what our judges and curators select for 2014.”
In 2002, Sagol founded Atomik Pictures, and in 2005 merged the company with Caviar. Today, the company–which has offices in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Prague and Brussels–produces advertising content for all media, as well as films and television series.
The call for entries for the AICP Show and AICP Next Awards is now open at: http://www.awardcore.com/aicp/login.php. AICP Week will take place in New York from June 10-12.
2014 AICP Show Committee
As Show chairman, Sagol oversees the AICP Show Committee, which is responsible for promoting and marketing the AICP Show, and facilitating the judging process and selection of judges (the AICP Digital Chapter works with the AICP Show Committee to select the judges for the Visual Effects, Animation and Design categories). He will also spearhead the selection of companies providing editorial, graphics and music to the AICP Show reel. He serves on the AICP Show’s Board of Governors, which is the final arbiter of the AICP Show, charged with ensuring the quality of the Show and adherence to its rules. The AICP Next Awards Judging Chair, Jury Presidents, and Judges will be announced shortly.
The Show Committee serving with Sagol includes: Dickey Abedon, Uncle Lefty; Marlene Bartos, Yessian Music; Kevin Batten, Logan; Denise Blate Roederer, Chelsea Pictures; Roe Bressan, Lively Group; Maddi Carlton, H.S.I Productions; Xavier Egurbide, Free Agents; Carolyn Hill, Carolyn’s Office; Becky Jungmann, Station Film; Chris Karabas, House of Reps; Mary Knox, Smoke and Mirrors; Allison Kunzman, Smuggler; Debbi Landon, HUM Music; Pamela Maythenyi, SourceECreative; Charlie McBrearty, Shortlist; Vanessa McLean, Shortlist; Rob Mueller, House of Reps; Michael Pardee, The Mission; Dan Sbrega, Uncle Lefty; Laura Thoel, The Sweet Shop; Dalya Tugendhaft, Uncle Lefty; Jennifer Warren, I Love Whales; Cara Wenig, Barrie Isaacson Management; and Kit Winter, Human.
Work honored at the AICP Show is made part of the archive of the Department of Film at MoMA. The AICP Next Awards, launched in 2007, highlights the winners of the eight Next categories, which honor innovative marketing communications. The AICP Next Awards are also archived at MoMA. The AICP Next Awards will debut on June 10 at New York University’s Skirball Theater, and the AICP Show premieres during a screening and gala at The Museum of Modern Art in New York on June 12.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More