A substitution and an addition mark the field of directors reported on last week (SHOOT, 11/7, p. 1) as participating in this year’s series of "Dreams" short films, presented by Sony and Young & Rubicam, New York. Tim Godsall of Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, replaces Biscuit founding partner, director Noam Murro, who had to bow out after garnering his first feature film, The Ring 2. Meanwhile, director Jonathan Darby, who recently joined bicoastal Original Film, has been added to the "Dreams" lineup, which now consists of 10 directors, each set to create and helm a short captured on a Sony 24p HD camera….Director Frank Todaro has agreed to come aboard bicoastal Moxie Pictures for exclusive worldwide representation. He will be wrapping his project commitments with his longtime roost, bicoastal/international @radical.media, through the end of the year. Todaro will be reunited at Moxie with its partner/executive producer Robert Fernandez, who came over from @radical earlier this year….Director Chris Robinson has joined bicoastal HSI Productions for commercials and music videos. He was previously with bicoastal/international Partizan….Director Michele Civetta, formerly of bicoastal HKM Productions, has joined Los Angeles-headquartered RAW/ Progressive Films.…Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago, has signed director Andrew Mudge, who earlier this year was the winner of the second annual Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival on the strength of his branded short, P.T. Johansen Field Guide….Piyush Pandey, group president and national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, India, has been appointed jury president of the 2004 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival’s Film and Press & Outdoor juries. Additionally, Robert M. Greenberg, chairman and chief creative officer of R/GA, New York, has been named Cannes Cyber Lions jury president….Francesca Cohn has been named director of strategic development for Santa Monica-headquartered Ascent Media Creative Services Group. She formerly served as VP, interactive/direct/broadcast at Team One Advertising, El Segundo, Calif., and prior to that was a senior producer at Chiat/Day (now TBWA/ Chiat/Day), Los Angeles.…Bicoastal The Joneses has signed director Gil Cope and the helming team The Goetz Brothers…. All Day Buffet, the year-old New York-based production boutique launched by executive producer Ronan Nagle, director Ben Starkman and editor JJ Lask, has signed comedy director Abe Spear….Audio mixer Loren Silber is leaving POP Sound. He is partnering in a new audio shop, Lime, Santa Monica, with mixer Mark Meyuhaus and business manager/producer Bruce Horwitz….Suzanne Wladar has joined Slingshot Edit and Post, New York, as executive producer. She was formerly executive producer at wild(child) editorial, New York….Partner/executive producer Frank Nitty, partner/producer Jimmy Douglass and creative director Cheroki Pigram have opened The Camp, an urban music production company for advertising and industrials in New York….Jenny Gadd, formerly a senior producer at Fallon’s New York office, has joined bicoastal/international Believe Media as exec producer of its New York office….
Breakout Films and Major Takeaways From This Year’s Sundance Fest
Film wasn't the only thing on people's minds at this year's Sundance Film Festival, which comes to a close Sunday in Park City, Utah ( and online ).
The effects of the wildfires in Southern California loomed large, as did the bittersweet knowledge that this year will be the second to last Sundance based in Park City. Some films offered an escape from reality; others were a pointed reminder of the domestic and international political landscape, from transgender rights to the war in Ukraine.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the 41st edition of the festival.
The effects of the Southern California fires were deeply felt
The wildfires were still burning in parts of Los Angeles when Sundance began last week and reminders of its devastation were everywhere, even on screen. Max Walker-Silverman's "Rebuilding," starring Josh O'Connor as a cowboy who loses his ranch in a wildfire and forms a community with fellow survivors in a FEMA camp, hit close to home for many.
Filmmakers Meena Menon and Paul Gleason lost their home in Altadena where they filmed some of their zombie apocalypse movie "Didn't Die." Sundance artist labs head Michelle Satter lost her Palisades home as well. Satter had an audience of Sundance Institute donors in tears early in the festival while accepting an honor at a fundraising gala.
"It's a deeply devastating time for us and so many others, a moment that calls for all of us coming together to support our bigger community," Satter said. "As a friend recently noted, and I have to listen to this, 'Take a deep breath ... We lost our village, but at the end of the day we are the village.'"
The festival's move to another city dominated conversations
It was a topic... Read More