'Mudbound' Director Dee Rees Joins Anonymous, Stink Signs Rhys Thomas

Anonymous Content signs director Dee Rees for commercial representation in the U.S. and U.K. Her feature drama, "Mudbound," has received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the first-ever African-American woman to be nominated for writing. Rees' first feature, "Pariah," premiered at Sundance in 2011 and her HBO film "Bessie," about the life of singer Bessie Smith, won four Emmys. Her upcoming film projects include FilmNation's "An Uncivil War," which tells the story of feminist activists Gloria Steinem and Florynce "Flo" Kennedy's efforts to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified; and an adaptation of Joan Didion's political thriller "The Last Thing He Wanted." Stink Films signs Welsh-born director Rhys Thomas for global representation. Thomas directed Pringles' first Super Bowl ad, starring Bill Hader, which will play during this year's game. He's a director/producer best known for his work on "Documentary Now!," "Saturday Night Live" (including the SNL40 special, which won him an Emmy) and, most recently, "Comrade Detective," which he directed and produced for A24 and Amazon Studios. His debut feature film was the Paramount production, "Staten Island Summer," released in July 2015 by Netflix. Director Henry Busby joins Rattling Stick for commercial representation. Busby joins from U.S. production company Voyager Creative, where his career was launched. His client list to date includes Everlast, Dick's Sporting Goods and NBC Sports Network. He has also made music videos for artists including Algiers, Symmetry and Land of Talk. In 2017 he was named the winner of D&AD's "Next Director" award. Honor Society signs director Ariel Danziger for U.S. commercial representation. Danziger has directed spots for brands such as eBay, Bank of America, Nescafé, Maybelline, PayPal, Bacardi and Tresemme. He spent seven years directing commercial and music video projects with Humble and, prior to joining Honor Society, he was with Alldayeveryday. Outside of branded work, he's currently wrapping production on his debut documentary short about a Special Olympics gold medalist. Director Tom Barbor-Might is signing with Imperial Woodpecker for first-time U.S. representation. A conceptual documentarian, he has worked on projects for channels including BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, MSNBC and Discovery. He gained representation with Rogue Films in the U.K. two years ago. Notable commercial work includes a film about graffiti artist MAD C for the Google Street Art Project, a global Land Rover campaign about the spirit of grassroots rugby in Fiji for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and a story for Comfort about about the town of Boring, OR. Lisa Immordino Vreeland, director of documentaries on Cecil Beaton, Peggy Guggenheim and Diana Vreeland, joins the U.S. roster of the New York and Paris-based production boutique Grand Large. Vreeland's most recent film, "Love, Cecil," debuted in November at the 2017 DOC NYC Festival. Picrow signs directing duo Zeitgeist, comprising Danish director/writer Liv Prior Colliander, director of the film "Dryland," and David Henry Gerson, who recently won a Student Academy Award for his film,"All These Voices." Colliander has directed branding films sponsored by Porsche for the book "ROR MIG," a Danish suspense thriller authored by Linda Victoria, and Fishley, a smartphone-based sports fishing app, while Gerson's commercial work includes spots for Western Digital, The New York Times and spec pieces for Prada and Chanel. MediaMonks is opening an office in Mexico headed by Head of Expansion LATAM Marcelo Planchart and Head of Partnerships LATAM Alexander van Rijn. Projects it has already handled include Corona's "Este Espíritu" for Leo Burnett, a music video that so far has amassed more than 10 million views across YouTube and Facebook; the new Aeromexico app; and Visit Mexico for Mexican Tourism Board, an integrated global campaign. Lucy Hayes, previously a producer at Partizan, head of production at Mustard Films and head of production at Production International, joining London-based Feel Films as head of commercials. Founded in 2004 by Nick Hirschkorn, Feel Films has produced work for brands such as Range Rover, Waitrose, Volkswagen, Dulux, Territorial Army, Guinness and The Observer. U.S. clients include Delta Airlines, Georgia Lottery, NASCAR and Synchrony Financial. Janet Arlotta joins design and branding studio Friends of Mine as executive producer. Prior to joining the company, Arlotta had been the executive director of (n+1) design studio, after her long run as owner and executive producer of Fuel. Friends of Mine recently completed a brand film for Otterbox, shot in five countries. London production company Blink has merged rosters with Colonel Blimp, originally its music video arm. The new roster will be overseen by former Colonel Blimp executive producer Paul Weston, now managing director. Richard Grewe, former head of Music Video at Colonel Blimp, will continue in this role at the new Blink. Dallas-based new-media creative studio Flight School adds Ruby Wang as concept artist. Part of its creative team, she contributes to story development for the studio's virtual reality and animation projects. Most recently, she was the art director on Island Time, an in-development VR arcade game, as well as an artist on projects for clients including Dell, Chevy and Starbreeze VR. Lucky Post promotes Neil Anderson to colorist. Anderson has worked on projects for brands such as Canada Dry, Costa, TGI Friday's, The Salvation Army and YETI. His latest feature work premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Augustine Frizzell's comedy, "Never Goin' Back."

'Mudbound' Director Dee Rees Joins Anonymous, Stink Signs Rhys Thomas

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