People on the Move

Johnathan Brownlee has been appointed CEO and president of the Dallas Film Society and executive director of the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF).
 
A transplant from Canada, Brownlee is an award-winning Canadian/American entertainment veteran with a diverse international body of work, spanning more than 20 years.  Three of Brownlee’s feature films, “Occupy, Texas,” “Three Days in August” and “Decoding Annie Parker,” have screened at DIFF. Brownlee created DIFF’s first screenwriting competition whose winner, “Three Days in August,” was produced in Texas, premiered at DIFF and was released nationwide at Studio Movie Grill.
 
“I’m extremely honored to lead DFS and looking forward to growing our education and community initiatives and leading DIFF’s transformation into a festival that reflects the incredible diversity of Dallas Fort Worth and the ever-changing landscape of entertainment,” said Brownlee, “There is nothing like watching a film in the theater, but we are also fortunate to be living in a time when television, streaming content and virtual reality are leaders in creative storytelling and our mandate at DFS is to present all of these experiences to our audience.”
 
Brownlee’s career highlights the symbiotic relationship among entertainment, art and commerce as he has created television series sponsored by Home Depot, HSBC, Ford, British Airways and Club Corp, to name a few. He has also produced content for The Salvation Army, Amnesty International, World Wildlife Fund, Toronto Humane Society, and KIPP Schools to support their fundraising campaigns. Brownlee has taught both creative and “the business of the business” workshops at Harvard, MIT, Vancouver Film School, LA Film School, Brandeis University, and Booker T. Washington High School for the Arts, and served as the LA representative for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

Creative content company Alkemy X has expanded its talent roster with the addition of director Adam Bonke and sr. editor Paul Bastin. A previous winner of the Young Director Award at Cannes, Copenhagen-based Bonke has worked with such brands as Comcast, Coca-Cola, Nike, Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders. Bastin brings 20+ years of experience in the postproduction industry, having worked as an in-house editor and motion graphics animator at such shops as R/GA, Ogilvy and Mather, and RadicalMedia.

Bonke’s career began in London’s Soho, where he delved into editing and compositing at postproduction company Locomotion, and later at Capital FX (now Deluxe), before finding his calling as a director. Citing youthful exuberance, he returned to his hometown of Copenhagen and unabashedly informed two producer friends at production company Nobody Cph that he wanted to direct. They eventually gave him the chance with “Interruption,” an evocative commercial for Doctors Without Borders, which ultimately garnered Bonke the 2010 Young Director Award at Cannes and launched his career. 

Since then, Bonke has directed more than 80 commercials in 18 countries, including work for Gore-tex, Sony Ericsson, Havas, and Carrefour. In addition, he has directed music videos for various artists; the popular documentary series, “Find Amdi,” for Danish national TV; as well as creating, co-writing and directing a full season of the critically acclaimed Danish TV series “Fetter.”  Music also plays a starring role in his process; he often collaborates with his brother to compose soundtracks for his brand-based work.

Bastin was most recently lead sr. editor at digital agency R/GA, where he developed workflows throughout the facility, maintaining quality control implementations across all edit stations, and collaborated with the creative, production and IT teams on projects, infrastructure, and global connectivity solutions. Prior to that, he was sr. editor and motion graphics animator and designer at RadicalMedia, lending his talents to projects for such clients as Grey Goose, NFL Network, Tommy Hilfiger, Versus, and NASA.

Bastin got his start in the postproduction industry more than 20 years ago as an assistant editor at New York-based postproduction facility Post Perfect. After several months spent traveling across the US, he returned to NYC where he worked as an editor at ad agency Ogilvy and Mather.

Sean Lackey has joined McCann North America as chief growth officer, a new regional position.
 
Lackey most recently was head of business development at Droga5 where he was key to driving significant growth across new clients and capabilities resulting in $120MM+ in new business revenue over the last four years. Prior to joining Droga5 in 2013, he held both business development and client management roles on a wide variety of accounts at BBDO for five years. He had also previously worked in account management at Interpublic Group’s Gotham, Inc. 
 
“Sean has an infectious energy and a great track record of attracting clients and delivering business growth,” said Chris Macdonald, president of McCann Worldgroup North America. “We are delighted that he is joining us as we further develop our North American network and offerings for clients.”
 
“I have always believed that creativity is a business driver for our client partners,” said Lackey. “The McCann agencies across the region and beyond are unified by this purpose, delivering at the top of their game both creatively and strategically.”
 
Creatively, McCann North America this year repeated for the second straight year as the most awarded North American agency at the Cannes Lions festival. while McCann New York also moved up 12 spots to become the No. 1 agency at the 2017 North American Effies. McCann was named North America’s “Regional Agency of the Year” at the New York Festivals International Advertising Awards, and McCann New York this year was named “Agency of the Year” at multiple awards shows, including the Clios, the One Show, the ANDYs, and the ADC (Art Directors Club). At the same time, McCann over the last few years has added major client assignments in North America, including from HomeGoods, MGM Resorts, Bombardier, Verizon, Reckitt Benckiser, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, and Chevrolet.

Antar Walker has joined MPC’s London advertising studio as design creative director. A multi-disciplinary designer and director with world-class experience spanning eight-plus years in advertising, design, animation, film and digital, Walker has worked with leading brands including Nike, Apple, BMW, Tate Modern, Land Rover, Burberry and Chanel.

Walker comes over from design and motion studio ManvsMachine where he worked in London for 18 months before moving to help set up its new endeavor in L.A. During his time stateside, Walker was integral to establishing that company’s new studio, propagating studio culture and thought processes, along with having a hand in hiring the best talent available to grow and nurture a successful new team.

Walker will collaborate closely with Ryan Jefferson Hayes who joined MPC in 2015 to spearhead a new era for the studio’s design team. Walker will also work through MPC Creative.

Graham Bird, chief commercial officer at MPC, said of Walker, “Not only will our clients benefit from his exceptional talent, but he will work with Ryan to help drive a new vision for Design within our advertising business.”

Walker said, “MPC’s reputation and proven track record in producing innovative, award-winning work creates a very exciting opportunity to forge a new creative offering throughout the company. There’s now an opportunity to apply design and visual innovation to the power of animation and VFX tools to create memorable, brave new content for all manner of brands, agencies and directors. I look forward to working with MPC and its clients to continue its legacy of excellence into new and emerging fields of design, motion and interactive content.”

MPC is a Technicolor Company.