Director Miles Jay, known for pushing the filmmaking envelope via digital integration, has joined Smuggler for representation. His inspired reel includes the interactive music video “White Doves” for the Toronto indie band Young Empires which utilized Facebook Connect to take viewers on a personalized experience through Facebook profiles. And in 2012, Jay directed the interactive short film Carly’s Café which earned him both the Young Director and Silver Lion awards at Cannes.
Carly’s Café –produced by OPC FamilyStyle, Toronto, for ad agency john st., Toronto–enabled viewers to experience life through the eyes of Carly Fleishman, a 17 year old who was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of two. She communicated to her family for the first time by typing on a computer at the age of 11. “In Carly’s Voice–Breaking Through Autism,” a book she co-authored with her father, Fleishman offers insights into and explanations for what the world sees as the strange behavior of those who have autism. The web film Carly’s Café promotes further understanding by putting people in Carly’s shoes during a seemingly mundane outing at a coffee shop. Inspired by Fleishman’s writing (on page 362 of her book), Carly’s Café is an online experience through which viewers can navigate a virtual cafe with the same distractions and pressures that she encounters, demonstrating Jay’s talent for storytelling facilitated by digital or social media technology.
Jay went on to direct Hollywood & Vines, a first-of-its-kind short film shot entirely through the social media application Vine. Jay’s open dialogue with the most prolific Viners created an artful story about travel and adventure, garnering him a Silver Pencil from the One Show. He followed with a short film for Samsung, Allshare, which documented the many ways people around the world share their lives. Allshare received 2 million hits in three days. Whether he is directing a campaign for tech giant Google or non-profit organization World Vision, Jay’s work has a viral and emotional personality.
Patrick Milling Smith, co-founder and managing partner of Smuggler, said of Jay, “We are all excited by the beauty in his filmmaking, as well as his understanding of various mediums. There is a natural truthfulness to his work that really resonated with us. He is a director who can excel at traditional storytelling, while bringing creativity and ingenuity to digital concepts.”
Jay was featured in SHOOT’s Up-and-Coming Directors feature coverage in spring of 2013 (SHOOT, 3/24/13, and SHOOTonline). At that time he had secured his first U.S. representation, joining the roster of B-Reel. He now begins a new career chapter at Smuggler.
