Hasta La Ideas

The Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase is one of the Cannes Lions Festival’s most popular events for delegates: both for its line-up of films by some of the best new talent around, as well as for the guaranteed theatrics of its opening. Here’s how this year’s showcase played out…

The S&S NDS has a deserved reputation for featuring the directing talents of tomorrow (previous showcases have included the likes of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Danny Kleinman and Jonathan Glazer), but also for its audacious and spectacular introductions. This year lived up to reputation once again, as visitors were invited to ‘Meet Your Creator’, which turned out to be a lightshow performed by a set of flying robots. Here are some images to give you sense of how it looked:

The intro was a collaboration between a number of artists, led by Jonathan Santana and Xander Smith at Saatchi & Saatchi London, with production by Juliette Larthe, and creative direction from Marshmallow Laser Feast. The full credits are shown at the bottom of this post.

The New Directors’ Showcase Reel 2012 featured work by 18 directors, and was a mixture of short films, music videos, movie titles, and ads. Below is the list of selected films in full: some will no doubt be familiar, but hopefully there are some surprises in there for everyone too.

Solipsist by Andrew Thomas Huang (andrewthomashuang.com)

Needing/Getting for OK Go, by Brian L Perkins & Damian Kulash Jr (parachute.net)

Dogs – Loyalty by Daniel Strange (ubercontent.com)

No Brain for Etienne de Crecy by Fleur & Manu (divisionparis.com)

Shit Girls Say by Graydon Sheppard (hardcitizen.com)

Tintin titles by James Curran (partizan.com)

Splitscreen: A Love Story by James W Griffiths (jameswgriffiths.com)

Nike – Addiction by Jones + Tino (iconoclast.tv)

Lasse Passage – Say Say Say by Lars Åndheim & Christoffer Lossius (filmfaktisk.no)

Dark Side of the Lens by Mickey Smith (independ.net)

Staring Out The Window for Fulton Light by Ninian Doff (pulsefilms.com)

British Movie by Rhys Thomas (skunkus.com)

Move by Rick Mereki (rickmereki.com)

Hard Times by Seyi Peter-Thomas (stationfilm.com)

Iconic for Moonbotica by Skinny (partizan.com)

Dead Island by Stuart Aitken (axisanimation.com)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trailer by Tim Miller (blur.com)

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore by William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg (moonbotstudios.com)

Saatchi & Saatchi NDS Introduction credits:
Event concept: Jonathan Santana & Xander Smith, Saatchi & Saatchi
Producer: Juliette Larthe
Production supervisor: Holly Restieaux
Show directors: Marshmallow Laser Feast (Memo Akten, Robin McNicholas, Barney Steel)
Quadrotor design and development: KMel Robotics
Sound design: Oneohtrix Point Never
Typography and design: Farrow Design
Set Design: Sam Arthur