UNIT9 has brought directorial team Pleasure Craft–consisting of Matt Ching and Derek Hanson–aboard its roster for their first U.S. representation. This gives the New York-based filmmakers–who specialize in CGI and live-action fare–continuity in representation on both sides of the Atlantic as they continue to be handled as a duo by UNIT9 in the European market.
Pleasure Craft starts by casting a wide creative net and exploring different jumping-off points for the story, gradually paring away excess to get to the core of the idea. Their first project with UNIT9, a film for Oakley, “Crush the Ordinary,” incorporated visuals of larger-than-life sunglasses and apparel descending from the sky and landing on the cityscape of the film’s hero. Pleasure Craft’s live-action filmmaking style blended with CGI can be seen in campaigns for Saturday’s NYC, Instagram, Jelly Smack, Versace, Prada, Adidas, and a music video for indie pop artist Jesse Gibson for his song “The Ride.”
Since their inception, Pleasure Craft has maintained creative DNA in which technology has been a major component–though their roots remain in live-action filmmaking. Pleasure Craft’s deep love for visual effects allows for an expansive sense of possibility when conceptualizing a film, using their tech-based prowess to bring deeply imaginative worlds to life.
Pleasure Craft shared a statement which read, “UNIT9 is the perfect production company for us. We share a love for mixed media and a desire to drive the culture forward with excellent filmmaking and innovation. We’re thrilled to expand our relationship in the U.S. and look forward to creating more films with them.”
UNIT9’s executive producer Emily Malito added, “We were immediately excited about them, and that incredible Oakley project they launched with us really solidified that. Pleasure Craft is in a league of their own, and we couldn’t be prouder to have them with us at UNIT9.”
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More