Spotlight on Female Directors: Zoe McIntosh
As part of a regular series with Free The Bid Australia, Campaign Brief shines the spotlight on top female commercials directors in Australia and New Zealand…
Zoe McIntosh is a director at Sweetshop.
Three best spots:
1.Spark ‘Big Tony‘| Colenso BBDO
2.BNZ ‘Love‘ | Colenso BBDO
3. YWCA ‘10%‘ | DDB
Zoe’s work thrives on finding unique characters and unearthing the stories that live inside. When it comes to hunting down unique characters for film and commercial work, she’s in her element unveiling these best kept stories. Finding the truth in any performance she’s at home directing one of New Zealand’s most notorious Mongrel mob gangsters, and hanging out in boxing gyms and caravan parks where she discovered her main cast for her latest award winning short ‘The World in Your Window’.
Her genuine love of people and documentary background provides an authenticity, depth and nuance. Her most recent short film ‘The World in Your Window’ is a heartwarming tale of grief, family and circumstance and was awarded the prestigious Jury Prize at the 2017 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and won Best International Short Film at; Melbourne, Flicker Fest, Short Shorts Asia, Tahiti Film Festival and Vancouver Women in Film International Film Festival. It is also a contender for the 2019 Oscar’s. Beyond her impressive success as a documentary and narrative filmmaker, Zoe has also shot campaigns for a host of major brands, including ALDI, Cadbury, Sky TV, Spark, ASB and YWCA. Zoe was named Cannes Lions Young Director of the Year in 2013 and she judged the 2017 D&AD Awards.
Says McIntosh: “I’m drawn to projects which have immediate heart, truth and humour. Projects which make you feel something authentic and have an interesting idea behind them. If the script has scope for a strong visual treatment and craft, that’s exciting for me too.
“When a script comes in, I always ask myself “what do I relate to in this material, how can I make it better, is there opportunity to do something really different and what can I personally bring to it, to make it great! I’m looking for a good idea, a universal theme and an opportunity to cast interesting and unexpected characters.
Since launching a year ago, Free The Bid has 200 Australian Women Directors on its searchable database. Free The Bid now has over 20 major agencies that use the database to find the right director for each of their projects and have committed to putting one female director in the mix for every job.
1 Comment
She’s one to watch. Some great work coming our way from this one.