“Meet your creator” – at the 22nd Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase

Cristina Blanaru Creativity

Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase is in Cannes again and unveiled another presentation of the most exciting new directorial talent. The Showcase promises to be an essential event on the programme of the Cannes Lions 59th International Festival of Creativity. Always a highlight of the Festival, the Showcase never fails to amaze and surprise, with a unique annual theatrical showpiece introducing the reel of carefully selected directors. The Grand Auditorium is once again the venue, with overspill for this popular event into the Debussy.

To find the featured directors, Saatchi & Saatchi invited submissions from directors across the globe, utilising its Network of some 140 offices worldwide, as well as relationships with key online sources. The Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Creative Board chose this year’s final selection of 18 directors. Past Showcases have featured internationally acclaimed directors including Tarsem, Michel Gondry, Mark Romanek, Spike Jonze, Ivan Zacharias, Kinka Usher, Danny Kleinman and Jonathan Glazer.

This year’s eclectic selection includes sophisticated animation, VFX, technical wizardry, films of cinematic proportions, and use of contemporary filmmaking techniques such as smartphones.

The trends for 2012 are: retro animation and 3D motion capture animation, beautifully shot cinematic music promos and movie credits and there are some unique, original ideas such as Perkins and Kulash’s ‘Needing/Getting’, James W. Griffiths’ ‘Splitscreen: A Love Story’ and Andrew Thomas Huang’s stunning ‘Solipsist’, which takes its influences from the natural world and uses CGI fused with an artistic eye to create a cinematic art installation.

A truly international selection, this year’s directors hail from the USA, France, Brazil, Canada, Norway, Australia and the UK. The 18 Directors selected for the New Directors’ Showcase reel 2012 are listed below, with the title of the submitted work.

  • Andrew Thomas Huang – ‘Solipsist’
  • Brian L. Perkins & Damian Kulash, Jr. – OK Go ‘Needing/Getting’
  • Daniel Strange – ‘Dogs – Loyalty’
  • Fleur & Manu – Etienne de Crecy ‘No Brain’
  • Graydon Sheppard – ‘Shit Girls Say’
  • James Curran – ‘Tintin’ Titles
  • James W. Griffiths – ‘Splitscreen: A Love Story’
  • Jones + Tino – Nike ‘Addiction’
  • Lars Åndheim & Christoffer Lossius – Lasse Passage ‘Say Say Say’
  • Mickey Smith – ‘Dark Side of the Lens’
  • Ninian Doff – Fulton Light ‘Staring Out The Window’
  • Rhys Thomas – ‘British Movie’
  • Rick Mereki – ‘Move’
  • Seyi Peter-Thomas – ‘Hard Times’
  • Skinny – Moonbootica – ‘Iconic’
  • Stuart Aitken – ‘Dead Island’
  • Tim Miller – ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Trailer
  • William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg – ‘The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore’

Saatchi & Saatchi is part of the Publicis Groupe, the 3rd largest communications holding company worldwide. Saatchi & Saatchi’s Network clients include Diageo, Emirates,  General Mills, Kraft Foods, Lenovo, Mead Johnson, Novartis, Procter & Gamble, T-Mobile, Toyota and Visa Europe.

With 140 offices and over 6000 employees, Saatchi & Saatchi is known for its outstanding creative ideas that generate powerful emotional connections between consumers and products. This is a key element in Lovemarks, Saatchi & Saatchi’s unique methodology for elevating the status of brands by creating ‘loyalty beyond reason’ and ‘inspirational consumers.