Director Na has joined Toronto-based production company Alfredo Films for Canadian representation. The transgender director has dedicated their career to projects that give back to underserved and underrepresented communities like LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. Now based in Detroit, they were born and raised in Seoul—where they started making films at the age of 15, using a camcorder received as a birthday present. Filmmaking became a form of language, a gift expressing their care and gratitude to loved ones. Na’s first work with Alfredo is a powerful new spot for MasterCard via McCann Canada called “True Name.” True Name by Mastercard is the first card in Canada that lets transgender and nonbinary communities display their chosen name. Mastercard worked with McCann Canada to create a video series and invited influencers from the 2SLGBTQ+ community to share their stories and speak to what the True Name feature means to them. The series showcases the challenges of misrepresentation that individuals from the transgender and nonbinary communities face when the name on their bank cards does not reflect their identity. It was important to Mastercard to partner with Na to ensure representation at all levels of production. Na has directed national broadcast commercials, as well as branded content, and documentary style work for a wide range of clients including Microsoft, General Motors, Ford, Chevy and Bumble, all with a commitment to ensuring visibility of everyone from local artists to trans and gender non-conforming individuals, poets, and urban farmers. Alfredo Films is a Black, Indian, Asian and female-owned production company. Na has representation in the U.S. via Tool of North America and Detroit-based Local Boy….
Steven Soderbergh Has A Multi-Faceted “Presence” In His Latest Film
Steven Soderbergh isn't just the director and cinematographer of his latest film. He's also, in a way, its central character.
"Presence" is filmed entirely from the POV of a ghost inside a home a family has just moved into. Soderbergh, who serves as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym Peter Andrews (his father's name), essentially performs as the presence, a floating point-of-view that watches as the violence that killed the mysterious ghost threatens to be repeated.
For even the prolific Soderbergh, the film, which opens Friday in theaters, was a unique challenge. He shot "Presence" with a small digital camera while wearing slippers to soften his steps.
The 62-year-old filmmaker recently met a reporter in a midtown Manhattan hotel in between finishing post-production on his other upcoming movie ("Black Bag," a thriller Focus Features will release March 14) and beginning production in a few weeks on his next project, a romantic comedy that he says "feels like a George Cukor movie."
Soderbergh, whose films include "Out of Sight," the "Ocean's 11" movies, "Magic Mike" and "Erin Brockovich," tends to do a lot in small windows of time. "Presence" took 11 days to film.
That dexterous proficiency has made the ever-experimenting Soderbergh one of Hollywood's most widely respected evaluators of the movie business. In a wide-ranging conversation, he discussed why he thinks streaming is the most destructive force the movies have ever faced and why he's "the cockroach of this industry."
Q: You use pseudonyms for yourself as a cinematographer and editor. Were you tempted to credit yourself as an actor for "Presence"?
SODERBERGH: No, but what I did is subtle. For the first and... Read More