Marie-Josée Huot has been hired as a producer in the advertising department of Rodeo FX, which maintains studios in Montreal, Los Angeles, Quebec City and Munich. Bringing more than 25 years of experience in high-end postproduction, Huot has worked with clients including Loto-Quebec, IGA, Videotron, St-Hubert, SAAQ, Subway, Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Bell and Air Canada. Her reputation as a producer and her strong sense of client services were honed during her career in advertising visual effects at Buzz, Mokko Studio, Technicolor and Shed as well as in postproduction, notably at Bureau de Post, Post Moderne and Difuze. She has collaborated with agencies like Sid Lee, Cossette, Bos, BleuBlancRouge, LG2, Y&R and production houses including Soma Pub, Les Enfants, 4Zero1, Cinélande and TVA. Huot joins Rodeo FX at a time of strategic growth for the company as a whole and specifically for its advertising department, which recently appointed Éric Bolduc as executive producer and head of advertising. Recent Rodeo FX Advertising projects include Travis Scott’s latest music clip, Via Rail’s 40th anniversary fully CG spot, as well as Korean Air and Van Houtte’s latest campaigns. Rodeo FX delivers award-winning visual effects for feature films including Academy Award-winner Blade Runner 2049, IT, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Fate of the Furious, Kong: Skull Island, Arrival, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Rodeo FX won a 2018 VES Award for its work on Game of Thrones. Emmy honors include three awards for Game of Thrones (2014, 2015, 2016). More recently, Rodeo FX has won an Animago Award in Munich for Best Visual Effects for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as a Hollywood Professional Association Award for Black Sails….
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More