Digital Domain 3.0 has promoted Academy Award-winning VFX supervisor Eric Barba to chief creative officer/sr. visual effects supervisor. In his expanded role, Barba, a 17-year Digital Domain veteran, will help to drive the development of creative-side relationships for the company, guide creative practices and oversee the development of branded materials for the company's marketing efforts. He will continue to work on individual feature films as a VFX supervisor and on commercials as a VFX supervisor and director. Barba reports to CEO Daniel Seah and is based in Los Angeles.
Director David Fincher opined, "Finally! Eric Barba is the reason Digital Domain is on my list of the top three visual effects companies in the world."
Barba was recognized with an Academy Award in 2009 for his work as the VFX supervisor developing a believable digital human character for Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Barba was the VFX supervisor on director Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion and on Kosinski's first feature, TRON: Legacy, as well as Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He also contributed his talents to Fincher's Zodiac.
Like many of the top directors he collaborates with, Barba is equally at home working in film and advertising. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design, he started his career at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Imaging as a digital artist on sci-fi television shows. In 1996 he joined Digital Domain where he supervised visual effects on dozens of commercials for Nike, Heineken, Adidas, Microsoft Xbox/Epic Games, and other leading brands. He has worked on many commercial projects with Fincher, including a multiple-award-winning spot for Adidas, the Nine Inch Nails music video "Only," and spots for Nike, Motorola and HP. Barba's own commercial directing credits include Nike's "Birth of Speed," Jaguar's "Pool," and campaigns for American Express, Cingular and Honda. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Barba said, "Quality is what Digital Domain was built on and what drives us in this new phase of our company. The core creative leadership here has been in place for more than a decade and has set that bar. I'm looking forward to working with this team of supervisors to mentor the next wave of talent to continue delivering on that promise and that expectation."
Jane Schoenbrun Jolts Cannes With Queer Slasher Movie “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”
"A good electric chair" is how Jane Schoenbrun describes their first Cannes Film Festival premiere.
"I really felt like my body was in a state of convulsion," says Schoenbrun.
The day after the premiere of "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," a bold, bloody queer slasher film starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, Schoenbrun and their co-stars were still buzzing from the ecstatic response. The movie, one of the most prominent American films in Cannes this year, gave the festival a gonzo jolt.
For Schoenbrun, the leading trans filmmaker of their generation, the film extends their intensely personal exploration of gender and the movies that defined their youth. But their first two films — 2024's "I Saw the TV Glow" and 2021's "We're All Going to the World's Fair" — were the raw, burning products of Schoenbrun's transition. "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," drawn from Schoenbrun's happy, exploratory post-transition life, isn't that.
It's about desire and sex. It's a biting satire of reboot-mad Hollywood. It's a schlocky and subversive slasher movie homage. It's a lot of fun, and quite tender, even when bodies are blood-spurting geysers.
"This is the first movie that feels like it represents the fullness of who I am," Schoenbrun says.
But Wednesday's moment of triumph in Cannes was hard-won. Ten years ago, Schoenbrun, now 39, was working in the film industry in a job they hated.
"The first time I came here, I just felt like, 'Oh my, god. I can't believe I'm in Cannes.' I went to, like, 'The Lobster,' at the Palais in my boy tux. I was like: 'This is it. I've done it,'" says Schoenbrun. "Then the next year I came back and I was so depressed. I decided to quit my job. If I'm depressed at Cannes,... Read More