They’re the Best – and Cutters, et al Win Awards
November 16, 2010 by Andrew Schneider
This week the Chicago Tribune came out with its best places to work in the city and three local ad agencies made the list: Energy BBDO, Draftfcb and Digitas.
Energy BBDO was so thrilled with the designation (which is arrived at by a survey answered by employees) that they created an ad for the Trib’s special section with a quick response (QR) code that takes you to this website: www.energybbdo.com/reasons.php.
Then, they told me about it. Katrina Cabrera at the agency told me that the fact that employees had voted them into the designation “particularly meaningful.”
We also received a press release this week from AICE that local edit house Cutters swept top awards at the “Camp Kuleshov.” They won some other awards too. The full press release follows.
Chicago's Cutters, Another Country and Sol Design Garner Merit for Award Winning Film and Advertising
Assistant Editor Carl Schumacher won the Grand Prize at AICE's Camp Kuleshov. The assignment was to cut together 2 feature films into a :90 trailer promoting a completely different film. This year's films were “Burn After Reading” and “Ocean’s 11”. Schumacher's trailer for “Self Destructs” was awarded along with prizes and a ceremony held at Chicago's Bottom Lounge. This is Schumacher's impressive 2nd win in 3 years for this competition.
The 2010 Chicago's International Film Festival screened Cutters Editor Eric Houtz's "Faster!" a short film about a bad ass female bike messenger who runs roughshod over everyone in her path. Also, finished at Sol Design with sound design from Another Country is "Louder than a Bomb" received CIFF's "Best of Festival" Special Jury Mention. Produced and Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel, “Louder than a Bomb” is a documentary about Chicago teens competing in the country's largest teen poetry slam. The film is receiving rave reviews and has been officially selected in over 15 film festival competitions.
Assistant Editor Kristen Gerhart is receiving a lot of attention for two of her short films "Carpe Millennium" and “The Booby Trap”. “Carpe Millennium” is a short comedy about a man who would like to be de-virginized on the eve of the year 2000. Out of 2500 entries from 40 countries, “Carpe Millennium” was one of 32 narrative shorts selected for the 2010 Director's Circle Festival of Shorts. To date “Carpe Millennium” has screened at 11 festivals and received four awards. Awards for “Carpe Millennium” include The Accolade Film Award of Merit, Honolulu Film Festival's Gold Kahuna Award for Excellence in Filmmaking and The Silver Ace Award at the 2010 Las Vegas Film Festival. “The Booby Trap” merits include The Starfish Award for Outstanding Comedy at the Moondance International Film Festival, Best Screenplay at the Columbia University National Undergraduate Film Festival, a nomination for Best Editing at the Houston Comedy Film Festival and officially selected at the Los Angeles United Film Festival and the World of Comedy Film Festival. In total, “The Booby Trap” has been the official selection at 17 film festivals, nominated for three awards and won five others. “The Booby Trap” is a comedic short film about mischievious boys that discover a breast-feeding video. “The Booby Trap” is also in final negotiations to distribute internationally, be screened on television and to be sold on Amazon.com.
The Mofilm competition helps bring together filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers to make ads for well-known brands for mobile, web, social networks and traditional marketing outlets. This year Cutters Editor Steve Stein and Assistant Editor Adam Kohr teamed up for a 3rd Place Win with their Ben & Jerry's "Fairtrade Connected" spot. Cutters Assistant Editor Charles Moore also took a 3rd Place Win with his Lipton "Sleepy Sam" spot. And even Cutters intern Stephanie Hain was in on the action taking 1st Place with the Sunsilk spot "Make Everyday Your Runway!". Hain's team received a cash prize and will be headed to London.