Several directors hailing from the Antipodes had a good showing at the Cannes International Advertising Festival held earlier this month. Melanie Bridge, who directs spots out of Silver Screen Productions, Sydney, and Auckland, New Zealand, was featured in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase, as was Garth Davis, who helms ads out of Exit Films, Melbourne.
As earlier reported, Bob Isherwood, the London-based worldwide creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, has high praise for Bridge. (SHOOT, 6/23, p. 1.) At the time, he noted that she "[has] a distinctive, seriously filmic look, but also shoots to cut brilliantly." In addition to spot helmers Davis and Bridge, the directing collective The Glue Society, who direct out of their eponymous East Sydney company, were represented in the Showcase by excerpts from their short films. And Supercollider, an animation team out of Fat Films, Auckland, also had a piece called Delf on the Saatchi reel.
Bridge and Davis were not the only commercial directors from Down Under to make their mark at Cannes. The Conference of Australian Milk Authorities’ "Bedtime," via Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne, and directed by Tony Williams of the Sydney Film Company, Sydney, copped a Bronze Lion at the festival. The spot features nursing home residents whose milk consumption leads to unexpected forms of excitement. Williams, who was unavailable for comment at press time, is no stranger to Cannes. At the ’99 festival, his Toyota NZ Hilux ad "Bugger," via Saatchi & Saatchi, Wellington, won a Gold Lion. The spot shows a laconic man who utters just the title phrase as he gets into a series of car mishaps. Williams’ other credits include the Accident Compensation Commission’s "Tree Fella," and Toyota NZ Hilux’s "Faithful Servant," both via Saatchi & Saatchi, Wellington, as well as the Bank of New Zealand’s "Retirement" through Colenso, Wellington.
