Toronto commercial studio Westside has added award-winning director Angie Bird to its roster for Canadian representation. Bird was previously handled in Canada by Skin & Bones; she continues to be repped by Chelsea in the U.S. market. The Melbourne-born and raised director is known for her captivating and visually striking work for a number of multinational brands, including P&G, Gillette, Dove, Kellogg’s, Allstate & Tim Horton’s. “First Shave,” her 2019 ad for Gillette documenting a father teaching his young trans son how to shave for the first time, won a coveted Glass Lion at Cannes and was shared online by celebrities including Laverne Cox, Wanda Sykes and Debra Messing. The ad also drew the ire of U.S. conservative commentator Tomi Lahren, which Bird considers a badge of honor. Bird also received the 2016 Young Directors Award at Cannes for “Mean Tweets,” a spot for the non-profit Raising the Roof which depicted the daily struggles of the homeless. She was also shortlisted for a D&AD Next Director award in 2017 for her Salvation Army “Give Registry” campaign. In 2019 Bird shot a national U.S. campaign for the brand Verzenio, traveling to multiple American cities to interview women surviving breast cancer, telling their stories in an emotionally raw yet empowering and uplifting way. In addition to her commercial work, Bird is also a film director whose debut short You Won’t Regret that Tattoo had its world premiere at Hot Docs. The film, which explores the meaning and memories behind the tattoos of an older generation, was a Vimeo staff pick….
A Dispute About Fact vs. Fiction At The Trial Over The Murder Of Tupac Shakur In 1996
A prosecutor said Monday that while few have been willing to speak about the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, Duane "Keffe D" Davis is the "one person who has a hard time being silent." "Let's be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew," Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors at the start of Davis' Las Vegas trial. "Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself." Davis, 63, could get life in prison if he's convicted of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer in the defense opening called the prosecution's narrative "fiction." Palal showed jurors video of Shakur's entourage attacking Davis' nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson outside the boxing match at the MGM Grand hours before the shooting on Sept. 7, 1996. Davis spent the next two hours planning how to get even, said Palal, and Shakur was gunned down "in an act of revenge." What he told the FBI and investigators In a 2008 interview with a federal task force investigating the killing of Shakur's rival, the Notorious B.I.G., Davis instead talked about the Shakur shooting. He described handing a gun to the men in the back seat of a white Cadillac that fired on a black BMW with Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight inside. As prosecutors played audio of Davis explaining the moment Shakur was shot, members of Shakur's family, including his stepbrother Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur, stared ahead and listened intently from the audience. Palal told jurors Davis held onto a visceral hatred for Shakur for decades that drove him to speak. He said the defendant talked to the FBI in 1998 and again in 1999,... Read More