Saville Productions has inked a deal with visual effects and 3D director Alessandro Pacciani for exclusive spot representation in the U.S market. This marks the first time he has been repped stateside in the ad arena. UTA reps Pacciani internationally for feature projects. He currently has no exclusive commercial production house affiliation internationally. Pacciani is known for seamlessly meshing live action performance and pure photorealistic CGI elements with a cinematic storytelling style. His work has been featured in commercials for international brands such as Audi, Subaru, Nike, Arena, Google, and Universal Music….Production company Mothership, a sister company to Digital Domain, has signed directing duo Alex & Steffen–the Stuttgart, Germany-based Alexander Kiesl and Steffen Hacker–for commercial work in the U.S. Alex & Steffen's visual effects-driven creative work has earned the pair a reputation for high-energy storytelling, rich filmic visuals, wit and humor. Alex & Steffen met while studying at the prestigious Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg's Institute of Animation and Visual Effects. For their final student project, they directed “Racing Beats,” a photo-real CG Xbox spec spot in which two sets of mad pilots play “chicken” as they race furiously around airport runways in huge commercial airliners. The directing duo was promptly snapped up by Toronto's Spy Films (which still represents them in Canada and other countries) and went on to direct and supervise visual effects on more than 30 spots for brands including WWF, Mazda, BOSCH, MTV, Honda and others under various representational banners. Alex & Steffen directed and VFX-supervised a high-profile campaign for Snickers via BBDO Moscow featuring robot fantasy-animals. Alex & Steffen were also featured in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes in 2006. They recently completed a series of nine character-based spots via Saatchi & Saatchi for Vestel. Alex also owns Unexpected, a Stuttgart-based post facility that handles the postproduction for all their spots, shorts and features, where Alex is 3D lead artist and Steffen is lead compositor….
Kamala Harris Receives Chairman’s Prize At NAACP Image Awards
Former Vice President Kamala Harris stepped on the NAACP Image Awards stage Saturday night with a sobering message, calling the civil rights organization a pillar of the Black community and urging people to stay resilient and hold onto their faith during the tenure of President Donald Trump.
"While we have no illusions about what we are up against in this chapter in our American story, this chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the oval office nor by the wealthiest among us," Harris said after receiving the NAACP's Chairman's Award. "The American story will be written by you. Written by us. By we the people."
The 56th annual Image Awards was held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in the Los Angeles area.
Harris, defeated by Trump in last year's presidential election, was the first woman and the first person of color to serve as vice president. She had previously been a U.S. senator from California and the state's attorney general.
In her first major public appearance since leaving office, Harris did not reference her election loss or Trump's actions since entering the Oval Office, although Trump mocked her earlier in the day at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Harris spoke about eternal vigilance, the price of liberty, staying alert, seeking the truth and America's future.
"Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy and ask 'What do we do now?'" Harris said. "But we know exactly what to do, because we have done it before. And we will do it again. We use our power. We organize, mobilize. We educate. We advocate. Our power has never come from having an easy path."
Other winners of the Chairman's prize have included former... Read More