Bicoastal production company Honor Society has brought Gemma Lee aboard its U.S. commercial directorial roster. Lee has turned out work for such clients as Beats by Dre, Mazda, Libra and Coppertone, among assorted others. Her recent U.S. projects include summer campaigns for Coppertone and CVS.
Lee–who had last been repped by Believe Media–also has to her credit short films which have enjoyed success on the festival circuit, including The Wake which stars Angus Sampson (Insidious, Mad Max: Fury Road) and Gulliver McGrath (Lincoln, Dark Shadows) and screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York where it was nominated for the Jury Prize. Lee’s horror short Bedtime premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal and was invited to screen before the Australian premiere of Ready Or Not, as well as during a host of other prominent genre festivals.
“Gemma is an exceptional talent whose storytelling is both incredibly emotional and visually stunning. She brings thoughtful intelligence and a strong point of view to her work. We are delighted to be able to showcase her work in the U.S. market as a part of our roster,” said Honor Society founder Megan Kelly.
Lee said of Honor Society, “I’ve always admired the work they produce and the high caliber of talent on their roster. Megan and her team have been incredibly supportive and I look forward to collaborating with them on many more projects.”
Originally from Scotland, Lee has a background in photography and studied painting and drawing at Edinburgh College of Art. During her studies, she worked as a lighting director at MTV in London, priming her future career in film. After emigrating to Australia, Lee earned her Master’s in Writing and Directing from the Victorian College of the Arts. From then on she’s been delivering award-winning films with striking imagery and masterful storytelling. She is also represented by their Australian production company partner The Producers which maintains a directorial roster that Honor Society handles for work in the U.S. market.
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