Stephen Kessler's documentary on Paul Williams to make U.S. debut; Daniel DelPurgatorio's sci-fi/horror short scheduled for screening
By A SHOOT Staff Report
AUSTIN, Texas --Continuing our preview of the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival which gets underway today in Austin, Texas, SHOOT turns its attention to more directors with commercialmaking ties who will be screening long and short-form fare.
Among the former is Stephen Kessler whose Paul Williams Still Alive makes its U.S. debut at SXSW. The feature-length documentary premiered worldwide last September at the Toronto Film Festival where it garnered critical acclaim. Paul Williams Still Alive is about the popular, diminutive musician and actor whose songwriting credits include The Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun” (debuting in a Crocker Bank commercial, commissioned by the late, legendary ad man Hal Riney when he was at BBDO San Francisco), the Oscar-winning “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born, and the Oscar-nominated “The Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie. Williams also was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, countless game shows, and had acting roles in films like Smokey and the Bandit and Battle of the Planet of the Apes.
Paul Williams Still Alive is the story of how Kessler found the childhood idol he thought was long dead (Williams is currently president of ASCAP)–and what happened to both of them as a result. Following SXSW, Paul Williams Still Alive is scheduled to play at over a dozen film festivals throughout the U.S. this spring.
Kessler took a hiatus from commercials to direct and write this documentary. He has since come aboard Assembly Films for spots and branded content. His ad credentials include having been a DGA Award nominee for Best Commercial Director of the Year, and spots for such clients as Snapple, McDonald’s, HBO, MasterCard and MLB’s New York Mets. He was also nominated for an Academy Award back in 1992 on the basis of his live-action short film Birch Street Gym.
Vitamin booster
Meanwhile set to be screened as part of SXSW’s Midnight Shorts series is Other, a sci-fi/horror film directed by Daniel DelPurgatorio who is creative director at Chicago-based design, visual effects and animation studio Vitamin, which produced the short.
Other centers on a brilliant doctor’s obsessive quest to cure himself of a terminal illness. While conducting a series of unconventional experiments, he discovers a scientific loophole that could save his life–if he is willing to accept certain sinister consequences.
Other is the first narrative film for Vitamin, a boutique best known for its work on TV spots for Nike, McDonald’s and the FX Network. The story was conceived by DelPurgatorio and Vitamin art director Rob Foster, and then adapted in collaboration with screenwriter Anthony Williams. Vitamin’s creative and production staff assisted in all other facets of the short, including conceptual design, live-action production, 3D animation, visual effects, editing, color correction and audio.
AFS Shortcase
Also scheduled for screening is Hot Dogs and Hand Grenades, a comedy series pilot directed and written by Justin Corsbie of Synthetic Pictures. Based on a Kerry Glamsch short story, the Synthetic-produced pilot is one of nine short films selected from over 100 entries submitted by Austin Film Society members. Hot Dogs and Hand Grenades is playing as part of the SXSW Austin Film Society Showcase, which focuses on Austin-based filmmakers working in short form. Synthetic has an Austin office and is a member and corporate sponsor of the Austin Film Society.
Corsbie and Synthetic are also active in commercials. The Hot Dogs and Hand Grenades mockumentary short centers on Bobby Cartwright’s U-Shoot’Em Ranch in rural Texas, a high fenced exotic hunting range where the prey of choice is the domestic cow. The story follows a boy on his first hunt, a group of animal rights protestors and a speed freak determined to kill a cow. The collision of these three characters reflects the irreverent humor that stirs the pot in Corsbie’s comedy series, which explores absurd stories across America and beyond. Hot Dogs and Hand Grenades had its world premiere at the 2011 Gen Art Film Festival in New York.
SXSW lineup
Kessler, DelPurgatorio and Corsbie are but three of assorted directors with spotmaking ties who have films being presented at SXSW, which runs through March 17. Among them are directors Amir Bar-Lev (repped by RSA Films) with the documentary feature the Re:Generation Music Project (SHOOTonline, 2/24), Jonas Akerlund (repped for commercials by Serial Pictures) with the feature length dark comedy Small Apartments, Kevin MacDonald (handled by Chelsea) with the documentary Marley, Emmett Malloy (half of The Malloys directing duo repped by HSI Productions) with the feature Big Easy Express, Joe Berlinger (repped by @radical.media) with the documentary Under African Skies, Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky (a duo repped by Washington Square Films) with the film Francine, Matt Piedmont (handled by PRETTYBIRD for spots) with his feature filmmaking debut Casa de mi Padre, and Jessica Yu (Nonfiction Unlimited) with the documentary Last Call at the Oasis.
Screening their short films at SXSW will be directors Matt Lenski (whose spotmaking roost is Supply & Demand Integrated) with his Meaning of Robots, Bill Plympton (Acme Filmworks) with Summer Bummer, Julie Pott (Hornet) with Belly, and Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (who direct spots under the Henry & Rel banner at Moxie Pictures) with A Brief History of John Baldessari.
And showcasing music videos at SXSW will be directors Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, a duo repped by PRETTYBIRD) with Battles’ “My Machine,” Keith Schofield (Caviar) with Duck Sauce’s “Big Bad Wolf,” and Trish Sie (repped for commercials by Bob Industries) who co-directed with the band OK Go and Pilobolus the OK Go clip “All Is Not Lost.”
(See our SXSW preview in SHOOT and SHOOTonline, 2/17, for further details on many of these features, shorts and music videos.)
Comedic Director Roderick Fenske Joins Yard Dog TV For U.S. Spot Work
Roderick Fenske, the award-winning agency copywriter/creative director turned comedic director of commercials and films, has joined Yard Dog TV for U.S. representation.
Fenske--known for his idiosyncratic casting, stylish art direction, and blend of practical and digital effects--saw his newest commercial work, for Drink Weird Ice Tea, break earlier this month. His most recent short film, I’m Dead, You’re Welcome, starring JR Russell, Taissa Zveiter, Sandy Eels, and Julia Lorpriore, is making the rounds of film festivals now, having won Best Comedy Short at the Flagstaff International Film Festival last month.
Fenske, who started out in the business as a copywriter, is one of a select group of agency creatives to have found success in both New York and London, where his last post was as a creative director at TBWA there. “I owe so much of my career to Trevor Beattie [TBWA London chairman/creative director at the time], because he believed in me and started my career directing commercials,” said Fenske, citing work for Sony PlayStation, French Connection UK, and Channel 5.
Those spots led to an invitation to become a member of the visionary Swedish film collective known as ACNE. “I learned so much there working in a directing collective. With everybody talking about how to make stuff look stylish and cinematic it was like a film school for me,” Fenske explained. “Production design is so important because humor can be much more unexpected when you have an elevated look.”
Over the course of his career, Fenske’s work has received many international awards from shows including the Cannes Lions, British D&AD, and AICP. He moved from London to Los Angeles, and during this time he met Yard Dog... Read More