Directors Peter Livolsi and Martin Dix, known professionally as Peter Martin, have signed with Auckland-based production company Robber’s Dog for Australasian representation. The directorial duo continues to be handled by Imperial Woodpecker in the U.S. Although still operating under the Peter Martin banner, the pair are now directing as a collective, with Livolsi and Dix both tackling solo projects in addition to their continued work together. Before their professional relationship began, Livolsi and Dix met at a party where their shared love of anything cinematic helped them get over their shared hatred of small talk. At that time, Livolsi was attending film school at the American Film Institute, whereas Dix was an already well-established agency creative director in the LA office of Deutsch. Over the coming years, Peter Martin would go on to forge a reputation for producing stylistic commercials for a diverse range of brands and clients including the BBC, McDonald’s, MTV, Dentyne, Daily Juice, Priceline and FedEx. Their work has been recognized by The One Show, Cannes, The London International Awards (LIA), AICE Awards, SHOOT’s New Director’s Showcase, Student Emmys and Academy Awards, The Austin Film Festival Audience Award and Best Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival….
Los Angeles-based production company SOCIETY has solidified its film, broadcast and branded content offerings by aligning with sister animation company The Academy under one single banner. The newly unveiled SOCIETY not only houses both live-action and animation services, but a bolstered directorial roster that includes the additions of mixed-media powerhouse Brikk, motion graphics maestros Cub Studios, and the duo We Think Things. With the merge of Academy into SOCIETY, the former’s staff animation producer David “Guti” Rosado, will now serve as head of postproduction for SOCIETY, joining a roster of not only the aforementioned new hires, but directors such as J. Austin Wilson, Zia Mohajerjasbi, Sean Pecknold, David Viau, Christian Sorensen Hansen, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Megan Griffiths and Lynn Shelton….
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