Partners + Napier had added two new group creative directors, a brand new role at the Rochester-based shop.
Creative director Mike Baron, who started at Partners + Napier in 2005, has been promoted to sr. VP, group creative director. And Dan O’Donnell, most recently creative director at MARC USA in Pittsburgh, and a veteran of Arnold, MullenLowe and Hill Holliday, has joined the agency as a group creative director. Both report to executive creative director Pete VonDerLinn.
In his newly expanded role, Baron will oversee creative work for Highmark Health Inc., BMW and MINI Financial Services, and Delta Vacations.
O’Donnell will oversee creative development for Keurig Green Mountain, BurgerFi, Conduent, Excellus BlueCrossBlueShield, Gannett, Friendship Dairies, Xerox, Bausch + Lomb, and Rochester Regional Health.
Over the course of his career, Baron has won many creative awards, including One Show, Tellys, Addys and recognition in Lurzers Archive. Starting as a copywriter and now an experienced director, he has helped some of the world’s best-known brands connect with their customers in their respective industries, including financial services, healthcare, higher education, fashion and outdoor sports. A graduate of St. John Fisher College, Baron has agency experience which also includes stints at Saatchi & Saatchi, Young & Rubicam, and Hill Holliday.
At MARC USA, O’Donnell’s primary focus was the Rite-Aid account. Other big brands that have benefited from his creative and business-building expertise over the years include Anheuser-Busch, Dunkin’ Donuts, Samsonite, Ocean Spray and Tyson. O’Donnell has received creative recognition that includes such awards as One Show, CA, and Hatch. An art director by trade, he is a graduate of Boston University.
Bill Condon, Jennifer Lopez Unveil “Kiss of the Spider Woman” At Sundance
A lavish, MGM-style musical is not typical Sundance Film Festival fare. But Sunday night Bill Condon brought such a creation—well, part of one—to Park City, Utah, with his adaptation of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," starring Jennifer Lopez.
Audiences broke out in spontaneous applause during the screening for Lopez's song and dance numbers. She plays an old Hollywood screen siren in a movie-within-the movie. The packed Eccles Theater also gave Lopez, wearing a glittery spiderweb themed frock, a standing ovation after the show.
"I've been waiting for this moment my whole life," Lopez said.
The story, which revolves around the conversations between two cellmates in an Argentine prison, was first a novel by Manuel Puig in 1976 and has been adapted for stage and screen over the years. A 1985 film adaptation starred William Hurt and Raul Julia. Hurt won an Oscar for his performance. On Broadway, it won multiple Tony Awards.
Condon wrote and directed this new version, which is seeking a distributor. Diego Luna plays an imprisoned revolutionary Valentin Arregui, whose new cellmate Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) loves movies, celebrity and glamour and enthusiastically recounts the story of a favorite movie musical, called "Kiss of the Spider Woman" to Valentin, giving them and the audience a break from their bleak reality.
While the film has memorable moments of escapist spectacle, it also delves into serious topics of gender identity. Molina tells Valentin that they don't feel like a man or a woman—which Valentin finds odd at first but grows to understand.
Before the screening, Condon said that one of the things the movie is about is "the attempt to bridge the incredible differences that separate us so often." He quoted President... Read More