London - After packing the 2,300 seat Grand Auditorium at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Thursday 19th June, Saatchi & Saatchi will have a screening of their popular New Directors’ Showcase (NDS) at the Barbican in London on Thursday 3rd July at 7.30pm.  There will be further screenings around the world including; the Teatro dell’Arte Triennale in Milan on 2nd July; The Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on 16th July;  Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York on 17th July; and Shanghai Center Theater in Shanghai on 21st October.

Now in its 24th edition, the annual Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase has carved out a reputation for acting as a barometer of who are the hot directors to watch, and provides young talent with a global platform through the NDS event in Cannes.  Saatchi & Saatchi invites submissions from directors around the world, and its Worldwide Creative Board, with direction from Worldwide Creative Director Pablo Del Campo, watched hundreds of entries and arrived at a final selection of 19 films by 18 directors.   

This year the reel features a typically eclectic mix of music videos, animated shorts, humour, erotica, surrealism and the grotesque.  Directors featured in the 2014 Showreel come from Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, the UK and the US.  Alumni from previous instalments of the NDS include Spike Jonze, Jonathan Glazer, Tarsem and Michel Gondry.

The screening of the 2014 NDS Showreel in the Barbican Cinema will be introduced by a short film of the live NDS ‘Feel the Reel’ event in Cannes on Thursday 19th June.  After the screening of the Showreel there will be a panel discussion co-chaired by Kate Stanners and Andy Gulliman of Saatchi & Saatchi, featuring panellists including 3 of this year’s NDS directors (Ed Morris, Alvise Avati and Kibwe Tavares), Maggie Ellis of Film London, Andrew Ruhemann of Passion and Juliette Larthe of PRETTYBIRD.  An after-party in the Barbican Garden Room will follow the panel discussion with music provided by Audio Network.  

Kate Stanners, Saatchi & Saatchi London Chief Creative Officer commented:  "I'm delighted to be co-chairing the panel at the Saatchi & Saatchi London New Directors' Showcase event on Thursday 3rd July.  The NDS is always one of the most popular events at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and now we are bringing the reel of 19 films by 18 talented young directors to the Barbican in London.  It’s fitting that we will be showing a world-class Showreel of directorial talent in the Barbican cinema, followed by a panel discussion featuring key figures from the worlds of advertising, film, media and production."

The 18 directors and their films are;

Tarik Abdel-Gawad: Box
Alvise Avati: Beans
Alberto Belli: It’s Not Porn
Simon Bonde & Peder: Ghost of a Smile
Ian & Cooper: Joel Compass ‘Back To Me’
Josh Cole: Rudimental ‘Not Giving In’
Tripp Crosby: Conference Call in Real Life
Ainslie Henderson: Moving On
Vania Heymann: Walking Contest & Bob Dylan ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
Kyra & Constantin: Rollin’ Wild
Ed Morris: Cybersmile #dontretaliate
Tatia Pilieva: First Kiss
Donato Sansone: GrotesquePhotobooth
Emile Sornin: Disclosure ‘Grab Her’
Kibwe Tavares: Jonah
The Sacred Egg: Breach ‘Jack’
Truman & Cooper: Kid Wise ‘Hope’
Us: The Sunday Times ‘Icons’

Directors are viewable at: http://www.youtube.com/nds

Journalists can download photographs of the ‘Feel the Reel’ live event at:  
http://www.saatchi-worldwide.com/nds/2014/images

#SaatchiNDSLondon

#feelthereel

The Showreel has been curated by Andy Gulliman, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Film and Content Director who commented: “We want to be introduced to a new generation with a fresh approach and attitude.  We want to find young talent that can manage a traditional format and stand out from the crowd.  We want to give great work great exposure.”

The theme of this year’s NDS - ‘Feel the Reel’ - was conceived by Saatchi & Saatchi creatives Linda Weitgasser & Alexandra Sattlecker.  ‘Feel the Reel’ makes the Showreel the hero of the NDS this year.  Weitgasser and Sattlecker partnered with Juliette Larthe of PRETTYBIRD who brought together Studio XO, Marshmallow Laser Feast and Berlin collective Elektropastete to create the innovative ‘Feel the Reel’ experience in Cannes.  During the Cannes NDS event the audience wore Sensory wristbands developed by Studio XO (Nancy Tilbury and Benjamin Males), which monitored their emotional engagement with the Showreel of Directors.  The emotional data was captured from the wristbands and projected at the audience through data visualized by Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and Electropastete on screens around the Showreel.  PRETTYBIRD’s Juliette Larthe was Executive Producer of the 2014 NDS event in Cannes, and has worked on the event with Saatchi & Saatchi since 2011 when she first introduced MLF to choreograph the live shows in Cannes.  MLF have acted as Creative Directors on the NDS Cannes event since 2011.   

Studio XO and MLF are featured in ‘Digital Revolution’, an immersive exhibition of Art, Design, Film, Music and Video Games at the Barbican, which runs from 3 July to 14 September: 

http://www.barbican.org.uk/bie/upcoming-digital-revolution

The ‘Feel the Reel’ identity and logo were created by Farrow, and the soundscape created specially for the event was composed by Finn McNicholas.  The live show in Cannes was co-directed by Studio XO and MLF, with creative direction from Robin McNicholas and Barney Steel of MLF.  MLF computational design was by Raffael Ziegler and Max Mittermeier, with motion graphic artists Ersin Han Ersin and Mike Tombeur. 

THE LONDON NDS PANEL;

Co-Chair: Kate Stanners, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi London
Co-Chair: Andy Gulliman, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Director Film and Content 

THE LONDON NDS PANELLISTS;

Alvise Avati, NDS 2014 Director (Partizan)
Maggie Ellis, Film London, Head of Artists’ Moving Image
Juliette Larthe, PRETTYBIRD UK Founder, Executive Producer of
Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase live show in Cannes in 2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014
PRETTYBIRD represent 3 directors featured on the 2014 NDS Showreel; Vania Heymann, Josh Cole and Ian & Cooper   
Ed Morris, NDS 2014 Director (Rattling Stick)
Andrew Ruhemann, Founder, CEO & Executive Producer of Passion
Kibwe Tavares, NDS 2014 Director, (Nexus)