Keep An Eye Out For...

Keep An Eye Out For...

Here at SourceEcreative we’re always keeping our eyes peeled for the next best thing, whether it deals with product or with the people. Lately we’ve been watching the talented crop, albeit crowded crop, of emerging directors - and felt we would be in arrears if we didn’t fill you in on the ones we are categorizing as Up & Comers. Below are a few directors that have caught our attention:

Amy Nicholson
Hungry Man

In the winter of 2003, Nicholson’s dad invited her to a muskrat skinning competition and the idea for her first feature-length documentary was born. Muskrat Lovely screened at prestigious film festivals such as the Hamptons, SilverDocs, the Florida Film Festival, Brooklyn International and the Austin Film Festival.

The film was later selected to air on the 2006/2007 season of the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens.

Today, Nicholson’s experience has catapulted her into the commercial arena, directing campaigns for Howard Stern On Demand and the Department of Homeland Security, and recently completed a series of shorts for the Nokia N Series. She is currently in production on Last Day of the Zipper, a documentary about land development on Coney Island. She has also begun work on her next feature, a project involving plastic reindeer and copious amounts of Christmas lights

Born in Washington, D.C., Benzo Theodore was attracted to photography at an early age. A four-time prizewinner of the Interscholastic Art Awards during his school years, his work was exhibited in Washington’s Corcoran Gallery before he had graduated high school. 

In 1994, Benzo enrolled at the University of California at Santa Cruz to study photography. Coincidentally Benzo and director, Spike Jonze, were taught by the same high school photography teacher who in turn, introduced the two.  The fortuitous meeting ultimately led Benzo to an internship and a camera department gig on the director’s feature debut, Being John Malkovich, where he met director of photography and future Park Pictures honcho, Lance Acord.

His alliance with Jonze led to work as an on-set photographer on other films, specifically Jonze’s next feature, Adaptation.

Benzo’s photographic skills would continue to lead him to other opportunities and eventually to the set of MTV’s infamous Jackass where he served as photographer and videographer.  From there he branched out into music videos, helming works for acts as diverse as the Pharcyde’s Fatlip and Princess Superstar. Although his directing career was evolving, Benzo’s photographs continued their notoriety, exhibiting nationwide with his most recent works, pARTy I andpARTy II, showing in Los Angeles alongside local favorites Sage Vaughn and Ryan Ross.

As it would turn out, Benzo’s advertising debut would be the wildly successful YouTube video for Ray Ban.  The viral campaign, winning accolades at various festivals including Cannes, AICP, and the D&AD Awards, helped to catch interest from Park Pictures (and Lance Acord), and where he signed in 2007. 

Since then, Benzo has directed yet another viral project – this time for Levi’s which features a group of friends seeking various ways to jump into their jeans. His most recent commercial work has been for Lexus – a two-spot campaign out of Team One.

Since making that decision thirteen months ago, Shots Magazine, Boards Magazine and Shoot Magazine have all named him to their “New Directors To Watch” lists.  In June of 2008, Einstein was included in the 2008 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase in Cannes. Three days later, the "You can say anything with a smile" TV campaign he directed for Crest was awarded a Gold Lion.

Since then, Einstein has expanded his reel to include humorous spots for Compass Bank and Avis.  His short film, “Eulogy For Jack,” is currently playing in film festivals across North America.