Andzej Gavriss joins Stadium
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The award-winning director’s accolades include multiple Cannes Lions, Clio’s, Gold at YDA and a UKMVA.
Stadium has signed director Andzej Gavriss to its roster for US commercial representation.
The filmmaker picked up his first camera at 13 in Latvia, shooting skate videos in abandoned buildings before a local hip-hop group hired him for his first music video. From there, he began creating films across London, Berlin, Paris and the US, retaining the same restlessness that had him setting skateboards on fire as a teenager, a drive that turned into a body of work spanning activist filmmaking and global advertising alike.
His breakout film, We Will Become Better, a music video for the band Sansara, told a same-sex love story that raised awareness for Eastern Europe's LGBTQ Network and took home a Silver Cannes Lion. It's one of five award-winning shorts in Gavriss' catalogue, alongside Uprooted, his UNHCR film on Ukrainian refugee displacement, which picked up multiple festival awards and recognition at Ciclope, 1.4 awards and SHOTS. His music video work extends to artists like Korn and Parov Stelar.
On the commercial side, Gavriss has helmed global campaigns for brands including Aldi and ING Bank. One of his most exciting spots to date is World of Tanks' Vinnie Jones-led holiday spot No Going Back, a five-minute gangster-movie built around a 55-ton vintage tank.
"Andzej makes the kind of work that reminds you why people get into filmmaking in the first place," said Stadium Co-founder and COO Eric Maldin. "He brings the same ambition to a sixty-second spot that he brings to his personal films, which is exactly what agencies need from a commercial director. He finds the human being inside every project, especially when, that's the harder film to make. That's exactly the kind of instinct we want on our roster."
It's a signing that fits squarely into Stadium's talent pool: directors who treat commercial work as a place to say something, not just sell something. Gavriss' filmography ranges from music videos to PSAs to global campaigns, picking up a Cannes Lion, three D&AD Graphite Pencils, and a Gold Screen at the Young Director Award.
"I've never been that interested in making things look good if they don't feel true," said Gavriss. "The projects I care about are the ones where you can feel the stakes, for the people in front of the camera. Stadium understands that instinct and champions that type of approach to filmmaking."
Emily Friendship, Stadium's East Coast Representative, said the signing reflects a director who moves fluidly between commercial and narrative storytelling. "Andzej doesn't repeat himself, and that's genuinely rare. He's spent his career finding the nuances of the human experience inside big, ambitious ideas, whether that's for a brand or an award winning film."
