Hissoni Mustafa, Megan Brotherton, Lauren Crew, Allison A. Waite and Angela Su have their work unveiled at DGA in L.A.
The Commercial Directors Diversity Program’s (CDDP) Industry Showcase recently debuted in Los Angeles at the Directors Guild of America (DGA). The Showcase featured spec spots directed by the five Fellows for this fifth cycle of the full CDDP program. The directors are: Hissoni Mustafa, Megan Brotherton, Lauren Crew, Allison A. Waite, and Angela Su.
Led by executive director Tamika Lamison, the CDDP provides a six-month program consisting of workshops, mentorships, networking, shadowing, a $25,000 grant to make a spec commercial, and an industry showcase to share the work.
The CDDP is a joint effort between the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA). It reflects the commitment of both organizations to bring about change and increase the representation of women and other underrepresented groups in the directing ranks of commercials and marketing communications. The goal of the program is to introduce directors to the commercial industry in the hopes that they will sign with AICP member companies and eventually join the DGA.
For this latest cycle, the mentoring production companies–which also helped facilitate the creation of each director’s spec piece–were: Hungry Man, Florence, Furlined, Sibling Rivalry, and Spears & Arrows. Each Fellow and mentoring company were teamed with agencies including: Highdive, Chicago; TRG in Dallas; Wieden+Kennedy New York; Translation, LA; and The VIA agency in Portland, Maine–all of which generously supplied scripts and worked with the directors providing valuable creative insight.
In addition to the spec pieces, the Showcase featured documentary profiles of each director and a panel discussion comprised of the Fellows, and moderated by Carolyn Chen, one of the first female commercial cinematographers who later directed over 300 national TV spots. The Directing Fellows were given a standing ovation at the end of the program.
The expanded CDDP Program that first launched in 2018 has graduated 26 Directing Fellows, at least 15 of whom have been signed to production companies, and some who have joined the DGA. The programs outreach is wide with over 500 applicants each year. In addition to the Directing Fellows, 15 finalists get to participate in the workshops in person and 25 semi-finalists from all over the world are invited to join the workshops on zoom.
For more info on the CDDP program, directors Mustafa, Brotherton, Crew, Waite and Su–and their work–visit here.
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