Young Irish-based director William Armstrong has been shortlisted for the Commercial Film Producers of Europe’s Young Director Award, the winner of which will be announced at an awards ceremony in Cannes, France, on June 21.
Armstrong, who is originally from South Africa but holds Irish citizenship, has been nominated in the Test Commercial category for ‘Poem,’ which was shot over four days earlier this year in Connemara, Co Galway, and Dublin. ‘Poem’ is the 27 year-old’s first work as a director, while he has been working as a producer with Dublin’s Antidote Films over the past three years.
Director Stevie Russell has also been nominated in two categories at the event. The 27-year-old has hadt his film for the Road Safety Authority nominated in the digital film category. He has also been nominated in the music video section for a video he shot for the Irish band Kodaline.
Dublin-born Stevie is creative director at Dublin based Tidal. He is also repped for commercials in London, Paris, and Berlin.
Held in association with ‘Shots’ magazine and the Commercial Film Producers of Europe, the Young Director Award is a prestigious accolade for those working in the commercials world with the event attended by advertising agencies across the globe.
Speaking to IFTN, Armstrong spoke of his delight at being shortlisted and spoke of the potential exposure it help give to both himself and Antidote films. He added of ‘Poem’: “The original idea was to make a car advert without a car. That was the first concept, which then developed from there into making the test commercial into a story that used the Irish landscape as best as we could.”
Kathryn Kennedy produced the test commercial for Antidote Films with Piers McGrail looking after cinematography, with assistance from Tommy Fitzgerald.
Shot on a RedMX with Superspeeds, Armstrong directed his own script while music and sound design was carried out by Gareth Averill. Mark Devine was the acting talent.
In post-production, the online edit and grading was carried out by Eugene McCrystal while Armstrong edited the one-minute long piece. Lighting equipment for the test commercial was sourced from Cine Electric. Vast Valley also supplied some equipment.
The Young Director Award ceremony is one of a number of key events set to take place at this month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity over June 17-23.
