Spy director Neill Blomkamp and his film District 9, find 4 Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Film Editing, Visual Effects,  and Adapted Screenplay.

Congratulations!

See below for the short that inspired the feature film District 9:

Alive In Joburg – Neill Blomkamp from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Arev Manoukian directs a dramatic and visual short film.

Nuit Blanche explores an experience many of us have lived before – a fleeting yet powerful connection with a perfect stranger. Set in a dark cobblestone street in the 1950’s, a man catches the gaze of a woman in a cafe across the street. This split-second moment becomes suspended in time, as the two gravitate towards each other in a hyper real fantasy where nothing can hold them back.

Making Of Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Yes, I know… super wordy incoherent title.. but, it’s all BIG NEWS!

Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 has been nominated for a Golden Globe – Best Original Screenplay.

Spin Magazine hailed Radical Friends‘ Yeasayer video as one of ‘the TOP 20 Best Videos of 2009‘.

Ben Steiger Levine’s music video for Montreal-based band Beast, has been nominated for a Grammy.

CONGRATS TO ALL!!

Spy directing duo Radical Friend come together with indie-rock band, Yeasayer.

Shot over the course of five days in the Californian desert and LA film studios… Radical Friend directed a two-part music video. The first was an interactive teaser, produced here at Spy Digital. And the second, an epic psychedelic video co-produced with our friends at Daft Arts.

Radical Friend wanted the interactive and live action video to have an other-worldly experience. That said, the 360 teaser was brought to life as a portal into the Yeasayer universe. The interactive teaser was released several days earlier via http://www.amblingalp.com . The interactive piece gained viral momentum… from antville to other various music-related blogs. Speculation was made and questions were asked. The music community was buzzing.

The live-action piece was released on Nov. 20th. Shots magazine featured Radical Friend and had this to say: “A barren landscape, naked bodies and the volcanic crater suited the themes of psychedelic and experimental rock that correspond with the band. Already on the radar as web-friendly and innovative directors, the duo sparked attention with their rock-smashing website early last year. This is not the Los Angeles- based directors’ first adventure into the interactive world for a band: they created an interactive music video for Black Moth Super Rainbow’s single Dark Bubbles earlier this year.”

Since the release, the video has been widely acclaimed as ‘insanely awesome’. Top-notch music blog communities like stereogum and musicslut have been ranting and raving, calling the video ‘the most surreal music video of the year’.

View interactive teaser HERE

View live action vid HERE

View Radical Friend REEL HERE

Ben Steiger Levine rocks out, with a little VFX twist’n’shout.

View TMSR vid HERE

View Ben’s REEL HERE

The Editors of SHOOT — conducted a worldwide search to discover the best up-and-coming directors who, based on their initial work, show promise to soon make major positive contributions to advertising and/or entertainment in its traditional and emerging forms. The search was conducted by SHOOT’s editorial staff with input from advertising agency creative directors & heads of production, as well as production company heads and established directors.

Jesse Jacobs Shoot Interview

Worldfest Film Festival – Coke City wins Gold, Skittles Mindbender wins Silver

Watch Jesse Jacobs reel here

Nick Goso has a very extensive background, however, priding himself on having no formal bio.. we are forced to adopt and promote Nick as the director who was ‘raised by wolves’.

Nick directs his work with the utmost passion and stylistic approaches. He is also very web-friendly… directing several interactive pieces for WSIB, Nick proves to be a director on the cutting edge.

Welcome Nick!

View Nick Goso’s REEL HERE

The state of the music industry has changed dramatically over the past five years.

The digital world has paved a new road, a road that is no longer one way. With the rise of the Internet, artists have found alternative means to showcasing their works. New technologies have enabled new and exciting forms of experience.

The interactive music video first gained mass attention with Arcade Fire’s ‘beoNlineB’ project, directed by Spy’s own Vincent Morisset. In the most recent issue of Shots magazine; “Morisset can be reasonably described as the godfather of this burgeoning scene.”

Earlier this month in the Montreal Gazette, alongside Madonna and Michael Jackson, Vincent Morisset’s ‘beoNlineB‘ was noted as one of the top six milestone videos in the history of the twenty-five year-old medium.

Other innovative, web-friendly directors have also received the attention of the digital masses. Spy’s directing duo Radical Friend, hit the radar in early 2008 with their own interactive “rock-smashing” site.

Several months later Radical Friend garnered the attention of upcoming indie rock-band ‘Black Moth Super Rainbow’. Wired magazine attributed the success of the video in Radical Friends’ words: “It’s essentially the same technology used in video installations where insane programs like MAX/MSP Jitter are required. However, in these tests it was accomplished using just Flash and a webcam, so anyone with a newer Mac laptop could potentially be involved.”

Shots magazine also made mention of the young directing duo and had this to say: “The rawness of this technology means its not easy to master, but as RF says ‘It’s a living thing that’s different every time.’ You have to learn it.”

View Luke Langsdale’s REEL HERE

Luke is both an awarded commercial, drama and documentary director, awarded fashion editor, awarded Actor and a talented but unorthodox cook.

Luke Langsdale was born in Cambridge before moving to the nearby county of Norfolk. He attended the London School of Fashion, where he graduated with the highest mark obtained in the history of his course. After a stint as a prep chef in Australia, Luke found himself in Manhattan where he carved a niche in the fashion industry as Fashion editor of a Leading lifestyle magazine.

Following this, Luke returned to London and learned the art of Documentary making, working on films for British network television taking him to Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Norway, Germany, Iceland, France and Denmark. Before relocation to Canada, Luke completed his first full-length documentary as part of the highly respected new voices director’s initiative for Anglia Television in conjunction with Granada and Stampede productions.

Luke is currently working as a commercial Director and screenwriter in the North American, European and Asian markets.

Spy welcomes Luke Langsdale.

Comic-Con 2009 – Friday, July 24th, 2009 by David Chen

During my lifetime, there have been a handful of feature-length directorial debuts that have truly impressed me. Obviously, Rian Johnson’s Brick was one of them, and this year Marc Webb’s 500 Days of Summer wowed me with its heartfelt script and well-executed conceit. Later this summer, we’ll have the opportunity to see Neill Blomkamp’s first film District 9, perhaps one of the most original and ambitious science fiction films to be released in recent memory. I haven’t seen the film yet, but from what I’ve been hearing from all the journalists who have seen it, it’s impressive.

I sat down with Blomkamp yesterday at San Diego Comic Con 2009 to chat about some of his inspirations for the film, the process of getting it made, and what he might be working on next.

See the interview HERE

See the short that inspired the feature film. View ‘Alive in Joburg’ HERE