Ambience Entertainment, Crows Nest, Australia, has opened up a New York office in conjunction with Jeff Devlin’s New York company, Media Logic. Devlin will serve as Ambience’s U.S. executive producer. Ambience is a commercial production and animation company headed by managing director Matthew Street…. Director Jim Sonzero, formerly of bicoastal RSA USA, has joined the newly named Boondoggle, which was previously known as FM Rocks Commercials, the spot division of the ongoing mainstay music video house FM Rocks, Santa Monica. Boondoggle handles exclusive U.S. spot representation for Sonzero….Director Robert Leacock has joined Maysles Shorts, New York….Director Jon Chu, a USC film grad who landed the plum assignment of helming Columbia Pictures’ upcoming remake of Bye Bye Birdie, has joined Hollywood-based JGF for spot representation. Chu garnered the attention of Columbia and JGF via his short film, When the Kids Are Away….Director Marcus McCollum and executive producer Peter Abraham have joined Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago. They come over from now defunct Fusion Films….Cibolo Films, San Antonio, has signed director Gustavo Fiorenza for the U.S. Hispanic market….
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