Director Gary Freedman has joined RESET Content for representation in the U.S. He has directed for such brands as Nike, Heineken, McDonald’s, IKEA, Doritos, and Harvey Nichols. For the latter Freedman recently helmed the centerpiece spot for the “Britalia” campaign from adam&eveDDB, London.
The Harvey Nichols piece features a famous dramatic scene from a Luigi Pirandello play ("As You Desire Me"), where an Italian couple, Salter and the Unknown Woman, are engaging in a passionate debate in Italian. Harvey Nichols has taken comedic license by altering English subtitles to suggest that the couple are cursing Harvey Nichols for taking the best of their Italian fashion (Valentino dresses and Versace underwear), beauty (Armani lipsticks) and food (artisan pasta), leaving them with nothing to wear or to eat at Christmas. The original footage shows the couple breaking up, but the cleverly placed re-subtitles depict the characters looking to seek revenge on “Harvey Nichols” who are “thieving rats.” The English subtitles bear no relation to what it is actually being said.
The film cleverly ties in with Harvey Nichols’ celebration of Italy this winter, as consumer research conducted by the U.K. retailer has shown that Italian products are the items that their customers look to for gifting at Christmas. Sales of Italian wines, foods such as Panettone and luxurious olive oils, leather goods and accessories from Italian fashion brands, sky rocket at this time of year.
Freedman made his first directorial mark as a member of the Glue Society collective. He has been directing solo for the past six years, exhibiting a deft sense of humor and storytelling. Prior to joining RESET, Freedman had been handled by Biscuit Filmworks in the American ad market.
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