LOS ANGELES -- Editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, ACE has enjoyed a fruitful collaborative relationship with director Yorgos Lanthimos, their latest feature being The Favourite (Fox Searchlight) which recently garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, tying it with Roma for the most this year. Among those Oscar nods was one for Best Editing, the first of Mavropsaridis’ career. The Favourite has also landed him BAFTA, British Independent Film Award and American Cinema Editors Eddie Award nominations. The latter was his... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- This year’s field of DGA Award nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for 2018 consists of a two-time past winner, a helmer with eight career nominations, another with three noms--two for commercials, the other for a feature--a director with a pair of career spot nods, and a first-time nominee. Martin de Thurah of Epoch Films won the DGA Award for commercials in 2014 and ‘18. Fredrik Bond of MJZ has eight career nominations. Spike Jonze of MJZ has two spot nominations... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a horror movie parody for Olay. Jeff Bridges and Sarah Jessica Parker tout Stella Artois . Steve Carrell hawks Pepsi. Star power abounds in this year's Super Bowl ads. Advertisers are hoping to provide some welcome distraction and entertainment as economic fears persist and the nation's political climate remains sharply divided. As much as this year's Super Bowl will be a battle on the field between the New England Patriots and the L.A. Rams, it will be a battle... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- “Black Panther” took the top award at Sunday’s 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards, giving Ryan Coogler’s superhero sensation its most significant awards-season honor yet and potentially setting up Wakanda for a major role at next month’s Academy Awards. The two leading Oscar nominees — “Roma” and “The Favourite” — were bypassed by the actors guild for a best ensemble field that also included “BlacKkKlansman,” ‘’Crazy Rich Asians,” ‘’Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star Is Born.” Although “Black Panther... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- In the ecosystem of who directs Hollywood's top-grossing films, women of color are the rarest kind. But the 2019 Sundance Film Festival is proving to be a referendum on the dismal industry statistics . And the positive reception to and pricey acquisitions of films like Gurinder Chadha's "Blinded by the Light" (bought by New Line for $15 million) and Nisha Ganatra's "Late Night" (Amazon purchased for $13 million) is, at the very least, promising. In the U.S. dramatic competition alone, where... Read More, Comment

LONDON -- Cannes Lions has named Swati Bhattacharya, chief creative officer, FCBULKA, as the 2019 See It Be It Ambassador, guiding the participants through the program and leading the discussion around the theme for this year which asks participants to “Invite yourself”. Through the See It Be It initiative, launched in 2014, Cannes Lions has fully funded over 70 women to attend the Festival, providing them with an exclusive learning experience and exposure to the global creative community. In partnership... Read More, Comment

VENICE, Calif. -- Director Lauren Greenfield--nominated for DGA Awards on the strength of her documentary and commercialmaking (the groundbreaking #LikeAGirl campaign for P&G/Always)--has launched, along with her producing partner Frank Evers, Girl Culture Films, a production company that represents leading directors for commercial projects and branded content opportunities. The new venture is designed to amplify female and diverse voices in the advertising world. Girl Culture Films will also develop non-... Read More, Comment

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- A railroad owner settled a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a film worker killed in 2014 when a train slammed into a crew shooting a movie about singer Gregg Allman, ending the company's appeal of a $3.9 million jury verdict. Chatham County State Court records show CSX Transportation reached a confidential settlement of the suit with Sarah Jones' parents on Jan. 24. The company asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to withdraw its appeal of the jury verdict Monday. Jones, 27, was a camera... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- Shia LaBeouf latest film was born in an unusual place — court-ordered rehab. The actor spent time writing the script for his semi-autobiographical “Honey Boy” while he was being treated for substance abuse after a 2017 arrest. “He wrote this script in rehab and actually sent me an email from there with the script,” said Israeli director Alma Har’el. “So it was pretty mind blowing. I couldn’t say no to that.” LaBeouf premiered the film at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday in Park City, Utah... Read More, Comment

A new Super Bowl commercial aims to calm frenzied football fans with oddly relaxing images of actress Zoe Kravitz whispering into a pair of microphones and softly tapping on a bottle. The Michelob Ultra Pure Gold beer ad (from FCB Chicago) , which already has drawn more than 10 million views, stands to expose a vast audience to an internet craze known as ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response. Some people spend hours watching videos of hair brushing, paper crinkling or "happy little... Read More, Comment

PARIS -- Olivier Lefebvre has been promoted from executive creative director to president and partner at FF Paris, the creative boutique agency founded by Fred & Farid. This brings the Paris office in line with FF’s bureaus in Shanghai, Los Angeles, and New York, putting an executive from the creative division in charge of overall operations. FF began this strategic leadership shift in 2012 to be better-placed to respond to the rapid changes currently revolutionizing the marketing industry. FF Paris... Read More, Comment

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Backyard Productions has signed director Patrick Creadon for spot and branded content representation in the U.S. Based in L.A., Creadon has turned out work ranging from commercials to television projects and award-winning documentary films. His credits in the ad arena include assorted spots and pieces of content for Fisher-Price, Unilever, Intel and Fair Trade. Creadon’s feature projects have made their mark on the festival circuit, including Sundance, Tribeca and Slamdance. His directorial... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- Comedy writer/director Jason Farrand has joined BUNKER for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. In addition to his spot directing credits--which span such brands as Degree, Domino's, Nintendo and Toshiba--Farrand is known as the co-writer, showrunner and director of the original TV series Head Case (Starz). Over 140 celebs have appeared on Head Case over the years, as Farrand draws from his writing collaborations at UCB and The Groundlings in LA. “What we love about Jason is that he’... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- Harvey Weinstein's name was intrinsically linked to the Sundance Film Festival for years, which makes it somewhat fitting that 14 months after his career began to unravel the festival played host to the world premiere of a documentary about his rise and fall. "I'm so happy it's at Sundance," said "Untouchable" director Ursula Macfarlane, whose film debuted Friday night in Park City. "It's the perfect place for a film about Harvey." The film is semi-biography of the disgraced mogul, packed with... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- In its third major buy of the Sundance Film Festival, Amazon Studios has acquired the world rights for the inspirational comedy "Brittany Runs a Marathon " for $14 million. Deadline first reported the news of the acquisition Wednesday. The film stars Jillian Bell as an aimless 20-something who decides to start getting her life together and train for a marathon. Amazon Studios has been spending big at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, which wraps up on Feb. 3. It also bought the distribution... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- It's not uncommon for audiences at the Sundance Film Festival to give standing ovations, but the ceremonial act took on a solemn air as two men who accuse Michael Jackson of molesting them as boys walked onstage following the festival's only screening of "Leaving Neverland," a documentary about their stories. Wade Robson, who says Jackson abused him from ages 7 to 14, and James Safechuck came forward as adults with their abuse allegations after Jackson's death in 2009. The four-hour film, which... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- "Bend It Like Beckham" director Gurinder Chadha knows a little bit about being a Bruce Springsteen fan, having seen The Boss at Wembley Stadium in 1984 where she proudly stood atop her chair and sang her heart out to his songs. So when she came across Guardian journalist Sarfraz Manzoor's memoir about being a British Muslim boy who finds inspiration, comfort and understanding of his own circumstances in Springsteen's lyrics, she knew it would be perfect for a film. Ten years later, the 1987-set... Read More, Comment

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Netflix has entered into a multi-year overall deal with Darla Anderson ( Coco, Cars, Toy Story 3 ), the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA award-winning producer. At Netflix, Anderson will develop and produce new animated and live action projects, both feature films and series, for family audiences around the world. Anderson produced Disney•Pixar’s Coco , which won the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Under Anderson’s creative direction, Pixar exclusively cast Latino and... Read More, Comment

The art installation, so often a playground in the contemporary art museum, is in Dan Gilroy's gloriously gory satire "Velvet Buzzsaw" a terror chamber. Interactivity is involuntary. "Velvet Buzzsaw ," which opens on the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, assembles a glittering gallery of art-world snobs, strivers and divas. A cocktail of critics, collectors, buyers and even a couple actual artists, it's the kind of easy-target collection that Christopher Guest might have taken aim at. But Gilroy, who... Read More, Comment

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- There's an early scene in director Jennifer Kent's film "The Nightingale" that is so relentlessly brutal, it's become almost infamous and has evoked the most extreme reactions, both positive and negative. And it's not at all what Kent expected to happen. She thought she'd made a film about love. So why, she wondered, are some saying it is, "needlessly punishing" and that they'll never watch it again. The film screened for U.S. audiences for the first time at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It'... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- HBO's new film on newspaper columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill romanticizes an era in New York and journalism that feels like a long, long time ago. The fact that it's very recent history makes "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists" partly a tragedy. The two men embodied a time when New York was a rollicking and complicated place, and each lived for the streets and stories of the little guys who made the city run. Every city had their own Breslins or Hamills, who made the powerful tremble... Read More, Comment

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- The manga movie "Alita: Battle Angel" has been 20 years in the making, and producer Jon Landau thinks it will finally represent the breakthrough success in Hollywood for a genre which has proved problematic. "I think this is definitely the breakthrough one because of the story that Kishiro wrote," said Landau, referring to Japanese author Yukito Kishiro, who wrote the graphic novels, or manga, upon which the movie is based. "You know, other mangas that have not worked have been very Asian-... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- Deutsch has promoted IV Tench to EVP, director of digital production for the agency’s Los Angeles office. Tench joined Deutsch in 2014 to work on key accounts and was tapped to run the department in 2017. Under his leadership, Deutsch continues to build much of its award-winning digital campaigns, applications and websites in-house with a team of producers and engineers. In Tench’s new role, he will continue to report to Deutsch’s Los Angeles chief digital officer, Pam Scheideler. “IV has... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK -- AICP has announced the call for entries for the AICP Post Awards, its revamped and rebranded competition for excellence in the postproduction arts. Formerly the AICE Awards, its categories have been re-imagined with a focus on recognizing standout examples of various crafts and technique in editing, audio, design, visual effects artistry and finishing. The AICP Post Awards are a part of the AICP Awards suite of competitions, which also include The AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the... Read More, Comment

LOS ANGELES -- The Visual Effects Society (VES) has elected its 2019 Board of Directors officers. The officers, who comprise the VES Board Executive Committee, include Mike Chambers, who was re-elected as Board chair. The new leadership team includes the first elected Board officer from outside North America, reflecting the diverse membership of the international Society. “We are fortunate to have such esteemed leadership represented on the Executive Committee,” said Eric Roth, VES executive director. “... Read More, Comment

"The LEGO Movie" is a hard act to follow. Its world was so fresh and vibrant and unexpected, it's no wonder that it spawned a number of spinoffs of varying quality. But the big test was always going to be the sequel and whether or not it could recreate the magic of the first. And I'm pleased to report that "The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part " is pretty darn good, but also you can't help shake the feeling that it's just never going to live up to the exciting newness of the first. The script,... Read More, Comment

The premise for "Arctic " is so simple it's almost silly to describe: Stranded man tries to survive. It's also been done more than a few times in movies, so it's understandable if hearing that invokes a yawn. And yet with barely any dialogue, traditional storytelling methods or even a cute pet or inanimate object to help, director Joe Penna and star Mads Mikkelsen have made a riveting and precisely plotted film worthy of other greats in the genre. Instead of Mars or a desert island, Mikkelsen's... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- When CNN gave Chris Cuomo its 9 p.m. ET time slot last June, there was reason to fear it could be a television suicide mission. After all, that hour is where the big dogs roam. Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow are the top two personalities in cable television. They still are, but Cuomo’s “Prime Time” quickly established itself as CNN’s most-watched program and, with 1.64 million viewers in January, is having its best month, the Nielsen company said. “For certain, it was... Read More, Comment

NEW YORK (AP) -- Matthew McConaughey notched one of the worst debuts of his career, Oscar nominees saw only modest bumps and M. Night Shyamalan's "Glass" easily remained No. 1 on a quiet weekend in movie theaters. The weekend's two new wide releases — McConaughey's tropic noir "Serenity" and the updated King Arthur tale "The Kid Who Would Be King" — both flopped with moviegoers who instead continued to flock to "Glass" and Kevin Hart's "The Upside." Shyamalan's sequel to "Unbreakable" and "Split" sold $19... Read More, Comment

This year, Hyundai’s humorous Super Bowl commercial shows how Hyundai Shopper Assurance can elevate the car buying experience without the fearful glances and groans of life’s other dreadful moments. The 60-second ad, “The Elevator,” will air during the first quarter of the game. In the spot, Jason Bateman stars as an elevator operator in a building full of life’s best and worst experiences. When a happy couple explains they are going car shopping, the elevator descends stopping on floors named... Read More, Comment

Director Michael Marantz’s newest film, A Sister’s Hope , introduces us to Jamira Burley, an individual who has turned adversity into inspiration and positive community change. Equally heartbreaking as it is hopeful, her story weaves a narrative of loss, belief, dedication and action. Marantz, a SHOOT New Directors Showcase alum (2015), also served as executive producer, composer and editor on A Sister’s Hope which entailed his working in collaboration with Vital Voices and its honoree Burley... Read More, Comment

The Me Too movement, created by Tarana Burke in 2006 to support survivors and end sexual violence, has released four PSAs in partnership with creative agency Deutsch. Through the message “We hear you. We see you. We believe you.,” the PSAs aim to rally survivors and supporters together in the fight to end sexual violence through testimonies from Terry Crews, Emily Waters, Daniela Contreras, and an anonymous survivor. The latter is our ScreenWork selection, the story brought to life through... Read More, Comment

This :90 for Microsoft follows the inspirational story of passionate young gamers, including nine-and-a-half-year-old Owen, rising to the top of their game with a little help from their friends, family and the Xbox Adaptive Controller. The story illustrates Microsoft’s commitment to building accessible technology that levels the playing field and creates opportunity for all, ending with the line: “When everybody plays, we all win.” A :60 version of the spot is slated to run during the Super... Read More, Comment

Audi’s Super Bowl LIII commercial turns to comedy to promote the carmaker’s all new e-tron models. The Audi e-tron GT concept takes center stage, with the Audi e-tron SUV making a cameo at the end. The 60-second spot, “Cashew,” directed by Ringan Ledwidge of Rattling Stick for Venables Bell & Partners, will air during the second quarter of the Big Game. “Cashew” tells the humorous story of one man’s version of utopia, made complete by his vision of the perfect car. As the spot begins,... Read More, Comment

Created via Deutsch in Los Angeles, the latest faux trailer from Taco Bell takes on the sci-fi genre. In “Retrieval,” a hero played by James Marsden must venture into space to bring back the beloved Nacho Fries. Directed by James Gray of production house Superprime, the spot was cut at Union Editorial by Matt Chesse. Taco Bell first debuted the instantly iconic fries with the conspiracy theory trailer “Web of Fries” which explored the reasons Taco Bell was prevented from offering fries in the... Read More, Comment

---