By CAROLYN GIARDINA
Raw Talents Oliver Wicki has been promoted to editor/designer at commercial editorial house The Blue Rock Editing Co. Raw Talent is a Blue Rock unit launched a year ago to develop and promote young talent; Palestrini Post Production is the parent company of both New York-based entities.
Wicki is the first to move up the Raw Talent/Blue Rock editor ranks, where he cut exclusively for the past six months. For a year and a half before that, he assisted Blue Rock editor Chip Smith. Oliver is the epitome of what we designed Raw Talent to be, said Blue Rock/Raw Talent president Ethel Rubinstein. His success proves what a great idea it was. … [It is] a venue to make people aware of talent.
Wicki combines his editing skills with graphic design, frequently working with such tools as Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. As his promotion was announced, he completed a not-yet-airing Heineken spot, Historic Places, for Lowe & Partners/SMS, New York. And at press time Wicki was cutting One Sun, a spot promoting a direct-to-video miniseries spin-off of The X-Files through bicoastal/international The Attik.
His recent Raw Talent spotwork included Chef Aid, a Comedy Central promo direct for the network that features South Park characters. That assignment also came in through The Attik.
He is so passionate about what he does, Rubinstein said of Wicki. His ability to marry design and editing is truly unique.
Wicki studied graphic design at LEcole des Arts Decoratifs in Geneva, Switzerland, and followed that with a stint at McCann-Ericksons Geneva office. He moved to New York seven years ago, learned English and began freelancing in production and post. Two years ago, he landed his position at Blue Rock (then Palestrini Post Production).
Of the Raw Talent experience, Wicki commented, It really helped me out, and I think its going to help other people. [Raw Talent] allowed us to be exposed to a wider community.
Juliette Welfling Takes On A Musical, A Crime Thriller, Comedy and Drama In “Emelia Pérez”
Editor Juliette Welfling has a track record of close-knit, heartfelt collaboration with writer-director Jacques Audiard, a four-time BAFTA Award nominee for Best Film not in the English Language--starting with The Beat That My Heart Skipped in 2006, then A Prophet in 2010, Rust and Bone in 2013, and Dheepan in 2017. He won for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet.
Welfling cut three of those features: A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and Dheepan. And that shared filmography has since grown to most recently include Emelia Pérez, the Oscar buzz-worthy film from Netflix. Welfling herself is not stranger to Academy Award banter. In fact, she earned a Best Achievement in Film Editing Oscar nomination in 2008 for director Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Emelia Pérez is a hybrid musical/drama/thriller which introduces us to a talented but undervalued lawyer named Rita (portrayed by Zoe Saldana) who receives a lucrative offer out of the blue from a feared drug cartel boss who’s looking to retire from his sordid business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamt of being (Karla SofÃa Gascón in a dual role as Manitas Del Monte/Emilia Pérez). Rita helps pull this off, orchestrating the faked death of Del Monte who leaves behind a widow (Jessi, played by Selena Gomez) and kids. While living comfortably and contently in her/their new identity, Pérez misses the children. Pérez once again enlists Rita--this time to return to family life, reuniting with the kids by pretending to be their aunt, the sister of Del Monte. Now as an aunt, Pérez winds up adopting a more altruistic bent professionally,... Read More