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Young Director Award announces Chairman for 2021
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The event, which highlights and celebrates up-and-coming directing talent from across the globe, welcomes Gijs Determeijer as next year's jury Chairman.
The Young Director Award, in partnership with shots, can today announce that the Chairman of the 2021 YDA jury is Gijs Determeijer.
Executive Producer and Partner at award-winning, Amsterdam-based film production company and photography agency, HALAL, Determeijer and his company are renowned for promoting and nurturing new talent from the Netherlands and beyond, with HALAL picking up the YDA's prestigious Producers Award in 2019.
The directors which have benefited from HALAL and Determeijer's supervision include Emma Westenberg and Emmanuel Adjei, while he has brought international talents such as Ryan Staake, Salomon Ligthelm and Karim Huu Do to the Netherlands, helping to bridge the gap between the local and international markets in the country.
The Young Director Award is really celebrating craft and storytelling. It is mainly judged by producers and it is exactly those people who help build careers of upcoming directors.
“For as long as I've been going to Cannes I have joined the YDA show," said Determeijer. "I remember hoping that one day our work would be good enough to compete with those amazing directors and production companies, and win something. I was beyond excited the first time we won Silver with Mees Peijnenburg in 2015. It made me so proud to get our work reviewed by the crème de la crème of the international advertising and producer scene.
"The Young Director Award is really celebrating craft and storytelling. It is mainly judged by producers and it is exactly those people who help build careers of upcoming directors. It was so amazing to win the Special Jury Prize and the Producer Award at the 2019 edition, mostly because of our short film, The Walking Fish, made with young director Thessa Meijer. It was the highlight of my career to be celebrated like that by the entire jury. To now be asked to be the Chairman is humbling and such an amazing honour, and I can’t wait to put together a great jury and see all the talented directors out there.”
Above: Gijs Determeijer and Francois Chilot [Images taken by Paul Bakker and Barney Cokeliss respectively].
"In Gijs, we have someone from the new generation of producers whose career and company is based on the unearthing, the nurturing and the promotion of young, talented directors," said Francois Chilot, President of the YDA. "Those talents work across not just commercials, but music videos, short films, features and documentaries, crossing platform boundaries, something that the YDA has always tried to promote. Gijs is an experienced and passionate member of our industry who will bring those qualities to the 2021 event and we are looking forward to discovering the next crop of this industry's young directors together."
Gijs is an experienced and passionate member of our industry who will bring those qualities to the 2021 event.
The 2021 YDA will be open for entries on January 18 but, next week, will be revealing a contest that sits alongside the YDA competition and which aims to give young directors another avenue through which to promote their directorial talents.
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