Bryan Fogel–whose Icarus (Netflix) won an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2018–has joined the directorial roster of Hungry Man for commercials and branded content.
Recipient of a Special Jury Prize for documentary filmmaking at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Icarus unfolds like a kind of hybrid documentary/geopolitical thriller, exposing Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program through revelations from Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, a scientist at the center of that cheating scandal and a prime whistleblowing target of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the strength of Icarus–which contributed to Russia’s ban from the 2018 Winter Olympics and 2020’s Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act–Fogel garnered the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalism, was nominated for a BAFTA Award, three Emmys, and the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary.
Fogel’s latest documentary is The Dissident which too is a unique documentary thriller and a rebuke of authoritarian power. The film delves into the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018. With a mix of never-before-seen footage and unprecedented access to those closest to the story–including Khashoggi’s fiance Hatice Cengiz, Turkish police and prosecutors, and a young Saudi Arabian dissident, Omar Abdulazia, whom Khashoggi was working with–Fogel’s film chronicles the heinous murder of Khashoggi, a principled reformer who sought to create a more just and open society in his Saudi homeland. Evidence points directly to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon as being culpable but he has orchestrated an international cover-up fueled by wealth, tyranny and advanced technology. The Dissident went on to earn a BAFTA Award nomination and wound up winning a Writers Guild Award.
Fogel had earlier in his career been repped in the ad arena via production house Supply & Demand. The alluded to three Emmy nominations he earned in 2018 on the basis of Icarus were for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, and Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program.
Fogel is currently in production on both scripted and documentary features and series.
Changes Afoot For Cannes Lions 2025, Including Increasing Festival Access For Underserved Communities
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is putting plans in motion for its 72nd edition, set to take place from June 16-20, 2025 in Cannes, France. The Festival has announced that it will double funding to provide €2m (some $2,150,000) worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities through its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Pass, returning for a second year.
Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, said the increased investment was “crucial to continue to drive progress for both Cannes Lions and the industry.” Starling added, “The ERA pass plays an important role in fostering a global representation of talent within the creative communications industry at Cannes Lions, and to date our funded opportunities have reached creatives in 46 countries globally. With the Festival being the destination for everyone in the business of creativity, we recognize the importance of creating equitable access to it, and this is why we’re prioritizing increased representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival.” Applications for the ERA pass are open now and close on December 5, 2025. More details can be found here.
With submissions into the Cannes Lions Awards opening on January 16, 2025, innovations to the Awards have also been announced today. Glass: The Lion for Change celebrates 10 years since its introduction. The Glass Lion was launched to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, and Marian Brannelly, global... Read More