Design-driven animation and production company Laundry–under the aegis of partners PJ Richardson and Tony Liu–has brought Reza Rasoli on board as creative director and live-action director.
After steering the creative direction of Laundry since its launch 13 years ago, Richardson and Liu knew the time was right, given the company's growth, to welcome their first full-time staff creative director in Rasoli. Over the past decade, Rasoli has produced award-winning content for broadcast, web, social, print, and events worldwide. Prior to Laundry, Rasoli was creative director and live-action director at Pet Gorilla, where he helmed a mix of live-action and interactive projects for such clients as Google, IBM, HBO, and METRx. His animated piece for Vans’ 50th anniversary, entitled “The Story of Vans,” was honored with a One Show Merit Award and D&AD Award, and was shortlisted for an AICP Award for Design. More recently, his anthem spot for UnityPoint Health aired during the Super Bowl in the Midwest region.
As a director, Rasoli has also collaborated with such studios as Brand New School and Blind. He has also served as co-creator, co-writer, and co-producer on scripted comedy-driven animation for Disney and Nickelodeon.
While studying Digital Media at Otis College of Art + Design, Rasoli co-founded Three Legged Legs with two other artists. The collective became known for their pioneering and innovative work in short-form content, catching the attention of Green Dot Films, where they were repped as directors for three years and worked on notable projects, including the GE “Samurai” short, and a spot for Method and Virgin America.
Since 2015, Rasoli has been an adjunct teacher at Otis College of Art + Design, where he leads classes in Storytelling, Motion Design, and Experimental Animation. Forever an artist at heart, he regularly contributes paintings to galleries on both coasts, including Gallery 1988 (Los Angeles & New York), iam8bit (Los Angeles), Spoke Art (San Francisco), and Bottleneck Gallery (New York).
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 Sofía 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