As SHOOT’s 8th annual New Directors Showcase approaches, there’s context to be had from and for a first-time SHOOT event that same day (Tuesday, May 11) at the same venue, the DGA Theatre in New York City. The evening New Directors Showcase event has been expanded to include the launch of a daytime event, the SHOOT Directors Symposium. The expansion was in part sparked by past Showcase attendees asking for sessions where agency creatives and production house execs and directors could spend more time together and exchange ideas..
In recent years, the New Directors Showcase has been graced by the presence of director Laura Belsey, who acts as a DGA representative and provides introductory remarks for the Showcase. Belsey is an accomplished filmmaker whose multiple disciplines include commercials, repped by New York-based C-Entertainment. She is also a teacher of the commercial directing class at the Graduate Film School of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Several of our Showcase directors over the years have benefited from her tutelage at NYU.
Also successfully assuming the dual role of notable director and educator is Bob Giraldi of bicoastal Giraldi Media. Giraldi teaches two undergrad classes at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York–The Project Class, and Evolutionary Dynamics in Advertising.
In the spirit of our Showcase, we have slated for the Directors Symposium a morning session dubbed “The Next Generation: In the Classroom Chair/In The Director’s Chair.”
Giraldi and Belsey will discuss teaching their craft to–and mentoring–students. The two directors/educators will share their insights into being a director today and how they are helping to prepare up-and-coming directors for the real world by teaching as well as creatively nurturing students. Training, mentoring and survival tactics for directing advertising and entertainment content in today’s constantly evolving landscape will be among the topics.
Giraldi teaches classic storytelling in SVA’s The Project Class while going completely contemporary in the Evolutionary Dynamics curriculum, which centers on what he described as “social media, the new media, any media–wherever a brand needs to market itself outside of traditional media. There’s no television, radio, print or outdoor in this class. What’s allowed are new ways of thinking encompassing apps, other mobile content, Twitter, Facebook, both the more and less obvious of emerging outlets.”
Meanwhile, consider the comments of Nat Livingston Johnson, half of the directing duo (with Gregory Mitnick) known as Peking. Johnson and Mitnick were students of Belsey at NYU and have since signed with Station Film. Johnson told SHOOT in fall of 2009 that Belsey served as “an incredible influence and presence in our segue into the industry. She was always available and mentored us, taught us most everything we know about film, and most of her guidance was outside of the classroom. She is a loyal, helpful guide and a close friend. She introduced us to people, prepared us for what to expect in the real world, how to approach meetings with production companies, how to approach conference calls. She has offered us sage advice along the way.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More