Director Paul Middleditch, and two of the members of Icelandic band GusGus—helmers Arni and Kinski—have signed with bicoastal HSI Productions. All three were formerly with Public Works, Santa Monica….Director Luca Maroni, well established in European commercialmaking, has joined Plum Productions, Santa Monica, and wrapped his first assignment for that shop: a three-spot Saturn campaign out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco…. Director Francisco Pugliese, best known for his work in the Hispanic market, has launched his own production house, Santa Monica-headquartered D’Avant-Garde Media. He comes over from Atlas Pictures, Santa Monica…..Agency creative Richard Yelland, founder of Curtis Birch Advertising, Venice, Calif., has signed with Roaring Tiger Films, San Francisco, for exclusive representation as a director…..Editor Pat Caballero has joined Pomegranit, San Francisco….Digital studio Radium, Los Angeles, has added executive producer Darby Walker-Curts, formerly of R!OT Santa Monica, and operations manager Paul Abatemarco, an alumnus of R!OT and Venice-based Digital Domain. Both will work closely with Radium’s team in San Francisco, headed by exec producer Anastacia Feldman…..Organizers of the Cannes International Advertising Festival said they do not intend to create a special category for scam ads. The idea of creating a scam category in order to discourage agencies from entering such ads in the mainstream competition had been floated, but was ultimately shot down by Cannes Fest leadership. The competition will continue to be confined to real-world ads for actual clients…..
London Critics Name “The Brutalist” The Film of the Year
The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s immigrant saga, won the Film of the Year prize at the 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards.
While The Brutalist garnered just one award, it was the marquee honor. Meanwhile Nickel Boys, Conclave and A Real Pain all receivd multiple awards, and Zoe Saldaña was honored twice.
Edward Berger’s Vatican thriller Conclave took two awards for British/Irish Film of the Year and Actor of the Year for Ralph Fiennes, while RaMell Ross’s radical Colson Whitehead adaptation Nickel Boys was recognized with Director of the Year and the Technical Achievement Award for Jomo Fray’s first-person cinematography. Jesse Eisenberg’s dark comedy A Real Pain was the night’s other multiple prizewinner, landing Screenwriter of the Year for the actor-filmmaker, and Supporting Actor of the Year for co-star Kieran Culkin.
Payal Kapadia’s Mumbai-set drama All We Imagine as Light was named Foreign Language Film of the Year, while the Palestinian-Israeli collective behind No Other Land took Documentary of the Year.
Alongside Conclave, British productions awarded by the Circle in the top categories included Mike Leigh’s intimate character study Hard Truths, which took Actress of the Year for Marianne Jean-Baptiste, while Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was named Animated Feature of the Year. In the British/Irish-specific categories, Saoirse Ronan won British/Irish Performer of the Year for her performances in The Outrun and Blitz, 14-year-old Nykiya Adams won Young British/Irish Performer of the Year for her screen debut in Andrea Arnold’s Bird, and Rich Peppiatt won the... Read More