Film Independent has announced the winners of its three Emerging Filmmaker Awards at its annual Spirit Awards nominee brunch held on Friday (1/6) at Hotel Casa del Mar. Spirit Awards Honorary Chair Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Unknown Country) and Colman Domingo (Rustin, The Color Purple) served as hosts for the event and handed out the honors. Winners for the remaining categories will be revealed at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday, February 25.
“Understanding the enormous challenges independent artists are facing, it’s essential that they are provided the resources to move forward with their artistic visions,” said Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent. “The Emerging Filmmaker Awards provide vital support to these talented artists, enabling them to continue to develop new work and thrive as singular artists.”
The Someone to Watch Award presented by Stella Artois was given to Monica Sorelle, director of Mountains. The award recognizes a talented first-time narrative filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award, which is in its 30th year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. The finalists for the award included Joanna Arnow for The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed and Laura Moss for Birth/Rebirth.
The Truer Than Fiction Award was presented to Set Hernandez, director of unseen. The award is presented to a first-time director of non-fiction features who has not received significant recognition. The award is in its 29th year and includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant. Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli for Lakota Nation vs The United States and Sierra Urich for Joonam were finalists for the award.
Finally, the Producers Award went to Monique Walton. The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The annual award, in its 27th year, includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey. Finalists were Rachael Fung and Graham Swon.
Merman makes its signing of Ritesh Gupta official; company takes on U.S. representation for the director
Merman has officially announced the signing of director Ritesh Gupta for commercial representation in the U.S. Gupta had joined Merman last year but was working on a feature film for most of 2024 so the production company held off until now on making the signing public.
The director is a former award-winning sports journalist and creative director. He’s created noteworthy campaigns from Budweiser’s viral “Dwyane Wade: This Bud’s for 3,” which he directed, to the multi-award winning Beats by Dre campaign “You Love Me,” which Gupta worked on as group creative director at the agency Translation. The “You Love Me” film, which was directed by Melina Matsoukas, earned a primetime commercial Emmy nomination in 2021 as well as a DGA Award win for PRETTYBIRD director Matsoukas. This marked the second Emmy nod for Gupta. Back in his MTV days he was a producer on a documentary, Aftershock: Diary of Gideon in Pakistan, which garnered a News & Documentary Emmy nomination.
As a director, Gupta’s approach is to layer a truthful authenticity ingrained during his time as a journalist--along with an emotional intelligence he honed storytelling in the documentary world--to craft his own evocative and unique cinematic style. In addition to his two Emmy nods, he has netted four Webbys, six AICP wins, eight Cannes Lions, 25 Clios and recognition from ADCOLOR and the ANDYs.
“Ritesh brings a unique perspective to his storytelling,” said Merman global director Ellen Clarke. “He has the ability to identify the multilayers of a narrative and its characters, weaving them impactfully together. His strength lies in his connection to the talent’s performance and discovering the authenticity within the story.”
Gupta said,... Read More