For Jeremy Podeswa, a four-time Best Director Emmy nominee, the Station Eleven (HBO Max) story that fascinated him became two episodes into production uncannily prophetic. Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven --a post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction miniseries created by Patrick Somerville--took on a profound relevance. Twenty years after a flu pandemic resulted in the collapse of civilization, Station Eleven introduces us to survivors who look to... Read More 

CANNES, France (AP) -- Swedish director Ruben Ostlund's class warfare comedy "Triangle of Sadness" won the Palme d'Or at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, giving Ostlund one of cinema's most prestigious prizes for the second time. Ostlund, whose art-world send-up "The Square" took the Palme in 2017, pulled off the rare feat of winning Cannes' top award for back-to-back films. "Triangle of Sadness," featuring Woody Harrelson as a Marxist yacht captain and a climactic scene with rampant vomiting, pushes the... Read More 

CANNES, France (AP) -- David Cronenberg is sitting on a balcony when a squawking seagull flies overhead. "Full of plastic, that bird," Cronenberg says, smiling. The 79-year-old Canadian auteur has long been fascinated by what's in our bodies and what we put in them. His latest film, "Crimes of the Future," which opens in theaters Friday, stems partly from his interest in the ubiquity of microplastics. Cronenberg, who sat for a recent interview at the Cannes Film Festival where "Crimes of the Future" was premiering,... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Television Academy has appointed veteran marketer Linda Swain as VP, membership and outreach, to provide strategic leadership to both grow membership and deepen the Academy’s connection with current members. The new role was created as part of the Academy’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and objectives set in 2021. The organization committed to expanding its membership department with the hiring of a senior executive to lead member outreach and drive engagement and retention... Read More 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Sheryl Sandberg, the No. 2 executive at Facebook owner Meta, who helped turn its business from startup to digital advertising empire while also taking blame for some of its biggest missteps, is stepping down. Sandberg has served as chief operating officer at the social media giant for 14 years. She joined from Google in 2008, four years before Facebook went public. "When I took this job in 2008, I hoped I would be in this role for five years. Fourteen years later, it is time for me to write the... Read More 

CANNES, France (AP) -- Lukas Dhont's sensitive coming-of-age film "Close," about the tender friendship of two 13-year-old boys whose bond is tragically separated, has provided a late, emotional wallop at the Cannes Film Festival. "Close," the Belgian director's second film after his controversy-generating debut "Girl," has emerged as one of the standouts at Cannes, and one of the most poignant. While heartbreak in film is usually expressed through romantic relationships, Dhont's movie traces the painful fallout of... Read More 

CANNES, France (AP) -- The quiet perceptions, everyday troubles and intermittent moments of transcendence that make up Kelly Reichardt's films have always had a rhythm apart from most American movies. Reichardt's latest, "Showing Up," which premiered Friday at the Cannes Film Festival, is no exception, but it's also more directly about the compulsions and pains of making modest, hand-crafted art. Michelle Williams plays a Portland, Oregon, ceramics artist of little renown but quiet devotion, trying to prepare a... Read More 

The great French film star Catherine Deneuve will receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September, organizers said Wednesday. With her angular features, blonde hair and regal demeanor, Deneuve was a key figure in the French New Wave. She broke out after starring as the lovesick Geneviève in Jacques Demy's candy-colored musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," which came out in 1964. It would lead to more lauded collaborations with Demy... Read More 

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES -- Production company Framestore Pictures has signed internationally recognized commercial director and cinematographer Ivan Bird to its roster for representation in the U.S. and Canada. Bird had previously been repped in the American advertising market by Moxie Pictures. Bird has worked with world-renowned talent, including Harrison Ford, Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Samuel L Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, David Beckham, Jude Law and Usain Bolt. Bird’s direction on award-winning commercials spans brands... Read More 

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Sanctuary Content has added Toronto-based director Goh Iromoto to its roster for his first U.S. representation. Since joining Sanctuary, Goh has directed a moving film for Procter & Gamble in honor of AAPI Month. Titled “The Name” for agency R/GA, the film recently earned SHOOT Top Spot of the Week distinction. Born to immigrant parents who founded a Japanese Canadian newspaper company, Iromoto was able to travel across the vast country and grow his sense of curiosity from a young age. A... Read More 

SAN FRANCISCO -- Independent agency Venables Bell + Partners (VB+P) has launched The Taproom Studios, a modern content and creation studio with full production capabilities. The collective of idea-driven digital storytellers includes creators, strategists, producers, artists, makers, and doers charged with creating content and experiences that resonate with consumers and within the communities that they engage. The new venture is under the aegis of Patty Brebner who’s been named head of content. Prior to... Read More 

NEW YORK -- Sharon Napier, executive chair and founder of Partners + Napier, a Project Worldwide agency, has been named board chair of the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies). Napier begins a two-year term, succeeding Barry Wacksman, chair and co-founder of Proto, who remains on the 4A’s board as past chair. Napier has been a 4A’s director since 2005 and for the past four years has served as co-vice chair of the board and was previously secretary-treasurer. Napier said, “I’ve always... Read More 

NEW YORK -- A startling gap exists between marketers who are poised for future growth and those who are less likely to significantly improve growth prospects based on how each group views future opportunities and the importance of innovation. That is one of the key findings in The Future of Marketing: A Roadmap to Hypergrowth, a new ANA study. The report identifies the two distinct groups as “hypergrowth” and “laggard” marketers, who are headed in starkly divergent directions. The study said that 38... Read More 

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) -- A jury awarded Johnny Depp more than $10 million on Wednesday in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, vindicating his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage. The jury also found Heard was defamed by a lawyer for Depp who accused her of creating a detailed hoax that included roughing up their apartment to look worse for police. The jury awarded her $2 million in damages. The verdicts bring an end to a televised trial that... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- With London's stages closed for much of the pandemic, Mark Rylance — one of the theater's most soulful actors and a leading interpreter of Shakespeare — made six films. They span a wide gamut. A tech billionaire in Adam McKay's apocalypse satire "Don't Look Up." Satan in Terrence Malick's upcoming "The Way of the Wind." Luca Guadagnino's "Bones & All." A tailor in the chamber-piece thriller "The Outfit." Rylance even acted for free in a student film. Rylance also starred in a quirky and... Read More 

One of the most viral moments from the 75th Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped over the weekend with the presentation of the Palme d'Or to Ruben Ostlund's "Triangle of Sadness," wasn't a slip on the red carpet or those fighter jets that flew over Tom Cruise's head. It was the director James Gray making a thoughtful argument for how mainstream moviemaking can be more than superheroes. Gray, who premiered his autobiographical '80s coming-of-age film "Armageddon Time" at Cannes, drew widespread... Read More 

CANNES, France (AP) -- "Shoplifters" director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to the Cannes Film Festival with "Broker," another tale of misfits from society's margins. This time, the film centers on the use of a "baby box," a controversial method of anonymously dropping off newborns to be cared for by others used in Japan, South Korea and other parts of the world. "In Japan, the biggest criticism was that the baby box was making it too easy for the mothers to give up on their responsibility to raise the child. But, on the... Read More 

VENICE, Calif. -- Slim Pictures, a Venice-based production company under the aegis of EP/president Tom Weissferdt, has added directors Cadmo Quintero and Nikolas Meyberg to its roster for spots and branded content. This marks Meyberg’s first U.S. representation. Quintero was repped briefly some time ago in the American advertising market; connecting with Slim marks his return stateside. Both Quintero and Meyberg have most recently been freelancing in Europe. Quintero has enjoyed a rewarding career... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Team One, Publicis Groupe’s fully integrated media, digital and communications agency, has hired Mark Koelfgen as its newest executive creative director. Joining from David&Goliath, Koelfgen will help lead efforts across Lexus and Team One’s growing portfolio of clients including Mark Levinson, Sparklight, Wisk, and Make-A-Wish, and will be involved with the agency’s new business efforts. He will report to Team One’s chief creative officer, Chris Graves. “We’re known for our deep... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Bicoastal production company Durable Goods has signed director Paul Schneider to its roster of North American talent. With hands-on experience in design, cinematography, and visual effects, Schneider is a multifaceted visual storyteller who brings fresh angles and nuanced exploration to the commercial, TV, and film work he directs. The signing comes on the heels of a deal with HBO Max to develop Schneider’s original episodic series Downriver , a darkly satirical drama rooted in his hometown of... Read More 

LOS ANGELES & OAKLAND, Calif. -- Where The Buffalo Roam (WTBR) has signed Venezuelan writer and director Victor Ridaura to its roster of commercial filmmaking talent. The L.A.-based Ridaura has helmed brand campaigns for the likes of DIRECTV, AT&T, MANGO, and Sony. Through his narrative work, he explores themes of identity and belonging, particularly as they pertain to the Latino and immigrant experiences in the U.S. Ridaura’s inventive scripts and short films have garnered recognition from festivals and organizations... Read More 

Forget breaking the sound barrier: Tom Cruise just flew past a major career milestone. The 59-year-old superstar just got his first $100 million opening weekend with "Top Gun: Maverick." In its first three days in North American theaters, the long-in-the-works sequel earned an estimated $124 million in ticket sales, Paramount Pictures said Sunday. Including international showings, its worldwide total is $248 million. It's a supersonic start for a film that still has the wide-open skies of... Read More 

When the work-life balance skews too far to the former, it’s time to open a Heineken. Actually opening a Heineken is more of a proactive move in this long-form spot, “The Closer,” the title of which is also the name for an outlandish high-tech bottle opener that immediately shuts down all work applications when a bottle of Heineken is opened with it. It’s said that when a door closes, a window opens. In this case, when a Heineken opens, your work connection closes. Francois Rousselet of... Read More 

AlmapBBDO created a campaign for CNN Brazil which deploys a polygraph to detect the real, so-called fake news. This first spot in the “Commitment to the truth” campaign centers on the war in Ukraine, set against statements in Russian by president Vladimir Putin such as: “We have no plans to invade Ukraine” and “We do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force.” As viewers hear these declarations, they see the arm of the polygraph skidding back and forth, the lines forming images of news... Read More 

Roomba might make cleaning under the dining table look easy, but did you know the Roomba is actually making an incredible amount of decisions as it goes about its cleaning mission? From detecting and avoiding dog poop to suggesting specific cleaning zones and scheduled cleaning times, these unseen decisions result in wondrous interactions that make our lives in our home better. In fact, Roomba is so serious about making the smartest, most thoughtful decisions for your home, they have a team of... Read More 

In this spot, workers are assigned the onerous task of refreshing the network in 300 company offices by next week. The employees are already in an tenuous position anyway as we see them working bent over backwards--literally. Luckily Juniper Networks can set up and secure connections in minutes, meaning IT department staffers can assume a healthier posture. Directed by Elizabeth Orne via production company Hungry Man, this commercial titled “Inflexible Network?” is part of a humorous campaign... Read More 

Independent French agency Herezie turned out this “Beyond the Sky” campaign for Italian supercar manufacturer Maserati’s Cielo, the new Spyder version of the iconic MC20 model. In this spot directed by director Alessandra Kila of production company Recom Farmhouse, we see the car being put through its paces seemingly on land and air, conveying a driving performance that is a profound sensory experience. Read More 

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