Michael Koerbel Directs Emma Roberts For Fiat
Director Michael Koerbel of Venice Beach, Calif.-based production company Rodeo Show steers online FIAT haters off the road in a new campaign from Society Agency starring Emma Roberts. Drawing from actual tweets and comments to FIAT accounts from the social media peanut gallery, these trolling comments are hilariously brought to life by a walking and talking life-size smartphone. The cranky ringer “troll” personifies the source of FIAT ire–wearing a custom giant phone suit made from scratch–who takes a “live tweets” approach, realizing the snide comments about FIATs and their drivers. Armed with snappy comebacks and quick getaways, Roberts takes the hater head-on, responding to ill-informed FIAT stereotypes with a mixture of confidence and nonchalance throughout the ads. The ads are amplified by Roberts’ loyal online following, boasting nearly 16 millions followers across Instagram and Twitter. Roberts recently returned for Season 8 of the Ryan Murphy cult favorite American Horror Story…
Ojai Fest’S Lifetime Honorees: McDowell, Kuras
The Ojai Film Festival annually honors an actor and a cinematographer for a lifetime of outstanding works. This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting goes to Ojai, Calif. local Malcolm McDowell who is recognized for his six-decades of cutting-edge work, which includes his roles as Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange, picaresque Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson’s trilogy (If, O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital) and movie-mogul Terrence McQuewick in HBO’s Entourage.
This year’s recipient for the Lifetime Achievement in Cinematography goes to one of the first women members of the American Society of Cinematographers, Ellen Kuras, ASC, widely regarded as a pioneer for all filmmakers. She easily moves between the studio and independent film worlds with a repertoire that includes narrative, documentary, music films and commercials. Kuras is represented by production house The Corner Shop as a director of spots and branded content.
Known for her stunning work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Blow (2001), Kuras is the unprecedented three-time winner of the Best Dramatic Cinematography at Sundance. She has also won the Eastman Kodak Focus Award, Women in Film Kodak Vision Award and has been nominated for numerous Emmys, an Oscar and the Independent Spirit Award.
People On The Move…
Global creative company Moving Brands has appointed David Cameron to serve as creative director in its San Francisco studio. He’s been with the company for more than three years and has been responsible for leading projects for 21st Century Fox, Lexmark, Adobe and Google. Moving Brands, which also maintains offices in NY, London and Zurich, works with businesses including Facebook, Netflix, Virgin and Sony. Formerly based at Goldsmiths, University of London where he specialized in designing interactive devices to better understand our relationships with technology, Cameron now helps businesses to understand the impact and implications of emerging technologies such as AI and AR….Patrick Griffis, VP of technology in the office of the CTO at Dolby Laboratories, will become SMPTE president on January 1, 2019. Griffis, currently serves as SMPTE EVP….
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