Production designer Todd Fjelsted, whose credits include the HBO series Looking and the Gregg Araki-directed feature White Bird In A Blizzard, has signed with Dattner Dispoto and Associates for representation. Also at Dattner Dispoto, DP Maryse Alberti has been booked for the Ryan Coogler-directed Creed, DP Bojan Bazelli, ASC, for Pete’s Dragon directed by David Lowery, and DP Florian Sadler for the Santiago Rizzo-directed Quest. New bookings for Dattner Dispoto costume designers include Paco Delgado securing director Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl, Meghan Kasperlik tabbed for the Lee Kirk-helmed Geezer, and Kameron Lennox landing director Matt Ross’ Frank and Lola….Carlos Arambula has joined R&R Partners in the new position of VP of Hispanic marketing. Based in the firm’s L.A. office, he will provide leadership and insight to the firm’s nine offices, especially R&R’s new office in Mexico City. Prior to joining R&R, he served as partner/VP marketing & business development, MarcasUSA LLC, a Pan-American OTC pharmaceutical import/distribution company based in El Segundo, Calif., which he also co-founded. Also during this period, he ran his own consulting firm, Arambula-Phillips Communications, serving as managing partner/lead marketing strategist, introducing and establishing foreign brands. Arambula brings deep experience in marketing to Latin American and the domestic Hispanic consumer markets, working on brands such as Toyota, Mars, Unilever, Hormel, ConAgra, and Nestle. Past affiliations include Saatchi, Grey, WPP, and Publicis….Greg Holland has become worldwide VP of sales for Digital Vision, a supplier of color grading, restoration and film scanning solutions for the broadcast, film, commercial and archive industries. Holland is part of a company management team which acquired Digital Vision from Image Systems….
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