Saatchi Remembers Arden, Toasts Fearlessness

CANNES (AdAge.com) -- Saatchi & Saatchi opened its 18th annual New Directors Showcase with tribute and tribulation. Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Bob Isherwood dedicated the event to the late Paul Arden, the longtime Saatchi creative leader who founded the show in 1991 and passed away in April. Mr. Isherwood called Mr. Arden the epitome of "fearless," this year's theme for the event. Argentine performance artists Fuerza Bruta then took the stage with an acrobatic, sensory-stimulating illustration of the "fearless director," with a man breaking through "walls," braving "storms" and overcoming various other obstacles. On the spots side, Fallon creative Juan Cabral added his name to another notable list with Cadbury's Gorilla as one of the show's featured ads. Creative-turned-director Harold Einstein garnered plenty of laughs thanks to deadpan humor for Crest and FedEx, and Scott Lyon celebrated everyday rhythms for Volkswagen. The show's featured viral entries included Ray Ban's Sunglass Catch, directed by Benzo Theodore and Joe Bartenhagen, and Ryan Brown's Cart Whisperer for Verisign. Biscuit Filmworks' Clay Weiner also joined the ranks for his direction on Budweiser's Dude, and Brazilian director Luiz Adriano used stop-motion cigarettes to illustrate the perils of smoking in a PSA for Unimed. Argentina yielded a handful of this year's animation talents: street artist Blu's graffiti took on new life against a live-action urban palette; Juan Pablo Zaramella made the most of black and white with the classically animated Lapsus; and Pablo Polledri humorously illustrated the seven deadly sins in Los Pecadores. Other animated shorts included Nexus director Johnny Kelly's multimedia take on procrastination. Jonathan Hopkins' Goodbye Mr. Snuggles was the show's only non-ad related live action short. Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase 2008 Luiz Adriano, Tribbo Post Joe Bartenhagen and Ryan Brown, fiftyfilms Blu, Mercurio Cinematografica Juan Cabral, Blink Harold Einstein, Station Film Encyclopedia Pictura, Ghost Robot Joey Garfield, Ghost Robot Romain Gavras, Soixan7e Quin5e Jonathan Hopkins, Between the Eyes Johnny Kelly, Nexus Productions Scott Lyon, Outsider Vincent Moon, Temporary Areas Nima Nourizadeh, Partizan Pablo Polledri, Gorriti 4417 3degrees "A" Keith Schofield, Caviar L.A. Bnezo Theodore, Park Pictures Clay Weiner, Biscuit Filmworks Roel Wouters, Nexus Productions Juan Pablo Zaramella, Zaramella Animation/JPZtudio

Saatchi Remembers Arden, Toasts Fearlessness

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