The directing duo of Brian and Melanie–a.k.a. Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky–has secured its first spot representation, signing with New York-based Washington Square Films. Brian and Melanie have already wrapped their first job under the Washington Square banner, a multi-spot campaign for Liverperson.com. The directing team is perhaps best known for the poignant short God Provides, which explores Southerners affected by Hurricane Katrina. God Provides debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival….Oil Factory, the Los Angeles production house headed by president Billy Poveda, has signed director Drew Antizs, known for his viral work. Antizs is crossing over to commercials via Oil Factory….Epoch Films, New York, has hired Mamta Trivedi as production manager. She will oversee the needs of each production, and report to Charlie Cocuzza, executive producer, New York. Trivedi previously worked as a unit production manager on various feature film sets including Dare, The Vicious Kind, Untitled, Wake Up Call, The Father Game, and A New Normal. Dare and The Vicious Kind both premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and are slated for release in 2009/10. Trivedi also worked in television as a production manager and UPM on the sets of Into the Night and Great Directors…..Frantic Films VFX, a division of Prime Focus Group, has brought on board Neil Huxley, an art director and motion graphics supervisor who joins the company from yU+co, where he was key in bringing to the screen the main title sequence for “Watchmen.” In his new role, Neil will be working on a stereoscopic 3D feature film currently in the Frantic pipeline. Frantic maintains studios in L.A., Winnipeg and Vancouver….
Oscar Winners “I’m Still Here” and “Emilia Pérez” Shed Light On Latin America’s Thousands of People Who’ve Disappeared
If there is a still open wound in Latin America, it is that of the tens of thousands of disappeared people and decadeslong pain that has accumulated in parts of the region such as Mexico and Colombia.
Two visions of the trauma had a central role at the 97th Academy Awards: the Brazilian film "Ainda Estou Aqui" ("I'm Still Here"), which tells the drama of the family of a leftist former congressman who disappeared in 1971 at the height of the military dictatorship; and the musical "Emilia Pérez," about a fictional Mexican drug lord who leaves a life of crime to become a transgender woman and searcher for the disappeared in Mexico.
"We hope that in this way the society will be sensitized," said activist Indira Navarro, who directs the Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco collective in Mexico and has been searching for her brother, who disappeared in the northern state of Sonora nine years ago.
The Academy Awards' recognition of the films, both of which were nominated in multiple categories, was an unparalleled opportunity to make the problem visible, Navarro said.
"I'm Still Here," by Brazilian Walter Salles, won the Oscar in the category of best international film. "Emilia Pérez," by renowned French director Jacques Audiard, was this year's most-nominated film and won in the categories of best original song and best supporting actress for Zoe Saldaña.
Salles and Audiard's films also had a common denominator of disappearances in Latin America: impunity.
The story behind "I'm Still Here"
"I'm Still Here" was inspired by the book "Ainda Estou Aqui" by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, son of the disappeared former congressman Rubens Paiva. More than five decades after he was taken from his Rio de Janeiro home and... Read More