Bicoastal commercial/music video house HSI Productions has teamed with video game creative shop Immaterial, Los Angeles, to form medium, a Culver City, Calif.-headquartered venture specializing in the development of interactive entertainment. The key players in medium include creative director Marco Brambilla, who’s also experienced as a director in features and spots, writer/ art director Robert Auten, and HSI exec producers Kerstin Emhoff and Rebecca Skinner. Medium will focus on several areas, including: conceiving, developing and producing video game concepts that carry specific relevance to a product or brand; brand placement within traditional video game properties; and developing and implementing music-related initiatives that will provide new revenue streams and marketing opportunities for record labels and recording artists while adding to the reality of the gaming experience….Bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures has added two directors: noted documentary filmmaker Kevin MacDonald (Touching The Void; One Day in September) has signed with the company for U.S. commercial representation; and commercial/ music video director Charles Mehling has come aboard as well….Director Jared Hess has signed with bicoastal Moxie Pictures for exclusive commercial representation. Hess’ first feature film, Napoleon Dynamite, a comedy co-written with his wife, screened this year at Sundance. FOX Searchlight Pictures recently purchased Napoleon Dynamite for full theatrical distribution, and the film will be released later this year….Universal Studios Florida Production Group’s twentytwoA (22A) will handle spot representation for director Lee Tamahori, whose feature credits include Die Another Day, Along Came A Spider and The Edge…. BlueYed Pictures, with offices in Los Angeles, London and Tokyo, has secured director Gavin Bowden for European spot representation. He continues to be repped in the U.S. for commercials and music videos by Los Angeles-headquartered A Band Apart…. Speaking of A Band Apart, director Leonardo Ricagni recently wrapped his latest film, Indocumentados, and is once again available for spotwork through the production company…. Dr. Helmut Panke, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG will be the recipient of the Advertiser of the Year Award at the 2004 Cannes International Advertising Festival…. Honda’s "Cog" has won the Best of Show honor at the ninth International Automotive Advertising Awards (IAAA). Directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan Midi Minuit, Paris, for Wieden+Kennedy, London, "Cog" also was the lone commercial to earn IAA Gold in the TV portion of the competition. A full report on the IAAA TV winners will be in next week’s SHOOT…..
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