Directors Lounge 42 Set to Kick off In Dusseldorf
A notable roster of talents are lined up for the 42nd Directors Lounge event, set to take place on 27 September. Among those on tap are rising star Luci Shroder of The Sweet Shop and Big Fish.
Directors Lounge 42 Set to Kick off In Dusseldorf
BBDO Proximity Head of TV Steffen Gentis will preside over the 42nd screening and reception celebrating work from directors around the world.
By Anthony Vagnoni
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In an era when getting your director's work noticed seems a Herculean task, the advertising elite of Germany will gather this week for an evening of screenings, cocktails and a brief immersion in the work of a roster of directorial talents from around the world.
The event is the Directors Lounge, now on its 42nd installment, which takes place Thursday evening, 27 September, at the Nachtresidenz night club in Düsseldorf. Presiding over the evening will be the unofficial godfather of the Directors Lounge series, Steffen Gentis, Head of TV at BBDO Proximity in Düsseldorf.
For more information on the event, or to sign up to attend, please visit the Directors Lounge Facebook page here. You can also view the roster at the Directors Lounge web site here.
SourceEcreative was on hand for Directors Lounge 40, which took place back in February of this year. (For a look at our coverage of the event and our photo gallery, click here.) James Straker, Managing Director of our London office, and Nicki Masterson, our Amsterdam-based Director of Business Development, will be in attendance again for the 42nd installment.
The roster of talents taking part in this combination screening, cocktail reception, Q&A and networking session represents a cross-section of talents from across Europe and beyond, with veterans mixing it up with up and comers.
The list includes Luci Schroder, a rising young music video and spot director who is represented in Germany by Big Fish and by The Sweet Shop in Australia and the UK. Also on the bill is Ali Ali, who's with Twin Film in Germany; the Italian director Leone Balduzzi, who's with Black Pearl Film in Germany and Agile Films in London; director Lalli Jonsson, who's represented in Germany by My Pony and by a range of companies in other regions around the world; and Nico Beyer, the veteran director who just signed with Little Minx in the US and is with Cobblestone Film in Germany. He's represented in Italy by Haibun.
Directing teams are well represented in this edition of the Directors' Lounge, according to Gentis. Among those taking part in the night's screening are Lernert & Sander, Skinny and Marc & Ish.
Schroder is one of the directors Gentis is quite interested in; she's certainly the one traveling the farthest to attend, flying in from her native Australia. Her work includes a number of talked-about music videos, including clips for artists such as Donny Benet and Alpine Hands and spots for TAC and other brands.
"It's very seldom that you see the work of a director that is so simple, ingenious, entertaining and completely unseen," says Gentis. "There's so much playful humor in her work, it's reminiscent of that time when you first learn to see things differently as a child."
Also on the Directors Lounge roster is Ali Ali, who's with Doppelganger in Germany. He brings an extensive background as an award-winning agency creative director to his work as a director. Ali co-founded the independent agency Elephant in Cairo with partner Maged Nassar and served as ECD and Managing Director. The agency quickly became one of the most awarded in the Middle East and worked for such brands as Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Sony and Google. He's also served in creative posts at agencies in Europe, including stints with Leagas Delaney, Leo Burnett, JWT, and was also ECD and CEO of the Berlin office of DDB, before launching his directorial career.
Balduzzi is a director and photographer who moved into advertising after directing music videos. He's been directing TVCs since 2004 and has shot for such brands as Google, Ford, Levi's, BMW, UNICEF and others. He also founded a small creative collective of artists and designers initially called Kosanostra, now called simply K48.
Jonsson is an Icelandic director who has lived in the US and Europe and is now based in Reykjavik. He was educated in Iceland and the US, and got his start in the film business as a teenager by working at a studio while still in high school. He's worked his way up the production ranks, from editing to producing to DP'ing, eventually starting to direct. Over the years he's shot with some of the top directors in the world, which he says has had a beneficial influence on his work. In addition to his work in music videos and TVCs, he's also directed documentaries and short films.
Beyer's a German who attended design school in Düsseldorf and then set out on a film career. He's been directing since the early '90s and was initially with Propaganda, at the time the top-rated company for TVCs and music videos. Now based in Paris, his list of awards won and brands shot for is almost too numerous to mention – it includes Cannes Lions, Clios, the German ACD, the New York ADC, Cresta, London International, etc. His ad clients have ranged from adidas, BMW and Coke to L'Oreal, Puma and Mercedes.
The Dutch directing team of Lernert Engelberts and Sander Plug are based in Amsterdam and are represented in Germany by Wrong TV. They bring a strong design background to their work, which includes experiential projects such as installations for the retail shop windows at Selfridges, where they transformed large household objects into lady's shoes. They've also produced films for the design and style publication Wallpaper and the web site Nowness.com, the quirky music video "Elektrotechnique" and their own personal projects, such as the documentary "How To Explain It To My Parents."
Lernert & Sander's film "Natural Beauty," commissioned by Nowness, became an international phenomenon, racking up almost 1.5 million hits on YouTube and being blogged by luminaries as unexpected as Perez Hilton and Oprah Winfrey.
Skinny is comprised of Franco-American directors David Hache and Marc-Edouard Leon. Both are based in L.A. and are represented in the US, UK and Europe by Partizan. So far this year they've directed TV campaigns for Yves Rocher, Garnier, and L'Oreal. They continued to work in music videos, most notably releasing a critically acclaimed video for German DJs Moonbootica, which was selected for the Saatchi & Saatchi's New Directors' Showcase this year in Cannes. They also won an MVPA award for their video for French electro sensation Yuksek, "Always On The Run," and have shot promos for artists like Cee Lo, Devendra Banhart, FUN, Marina and the Diamonds, and Ke$ha, generating millions of views online and making year-end 'best of' lists at media outlets such as NME, Spin, and MTV Subterranean.
Skinny's work has been featured everywhere from the Hammer Museum to the 2011 and 2012 SXSW film festival to the pages of Rolling Stone, Time, and Shots. They were just praised in a Paper Magazine article on Los Angeles' most up-and-coming music video directors.
Originating in fine art and architecture, Marc & Ish, who are with Markenfilm in Germany, have gained a reputation in creating sharply focused and often unsettling imagery, particularly evident in their short, "Unwatchable." They were Oscar shortlisted and have collaborated with David LaChapelle, the KLF, Orb, Adam Freeland and the internationally renowned architect Zaha Hadid. Their clients include Levi's, Renault Clio, Amnesty International, Channel 4, Wieden + Kennedy and Publicis.
Formerly on staff as creatives at BBH, the pair has created installations for the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and at the Museum Of Modern Art in Los Angeles (for an anti meth campaign), and exhibited their artworks in Europe and the States. Their films have been distributed by Lionsgate and Netflix. As a directing team, Marc & Ish recently completed the relaunch commercial for the Renault Clio in the UK that featured the American postmodern stripper Dita Von Teese, which was named Campaign's Ad of the Week. The Adweek AdFreak blog said of the spot, "It's so self-consciously wacky, it's awesome." It was banned on daytime TV in the UK and became a global media sensation. They're represented in the US by Pictures in a Row.
"It's fascinating how the Directors Lounge keeps growing," Gentis tells SourceEcreative. "There's so much national and international interest. For any director, the Lounge has become the single most important platform for launching a career into the largest European market. Somehow we've found something that was missing in the industry before – a professional and social event that's a mix of an entertaining evening with huge relevance coupled with the chance to meet inspiring people and an opportunity to network and party until sunrise."
Published 24 Sept., 2012
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