Radke Films’ former producer and new director Eddy Chu emerged from a strong field of competition to win top prize at the third annual Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback First Cut Award for new commercial directors, held July 7 in Toronto.

Phil Brown, represented by The Artists Company and Aviator Pictures, The Partners’ Film Company’s Adam Massey, Rave Films’ Stephen Scott and Geoff Ayres from Revolver Films comprised the remainder of the judges’ top five picks of most promising new directors. Massey also ranked in the top five at last year’s First Cut Award.

‘It’s a great day in my life,’ said Chu upon accepting the award at the event, held at night spot Easy & the Fifth.

Thirty entries were judged for the First Cut contest, which is open to directors affiliated with a production company and with less than two years of spot directing to their credit.

Chu takes over from last year’s winner, Spy Films’ Jeff Eamer, as First Cut victor, the spoils of which include a trip to the Cannes International Advertising Festival next summer and a spot on the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase reel shown at that event.

This year’s expanded judging roster included 18 representatives of a broad range of industry segments, including creative production, directorial as well as post and music disciplines, and representatives of the u.s. as well as the Canadian industry.

Chu captured the top new director honor with a well-executed reel of creatively strong work, which included the Cantel at&t ‘Phone Bomb’ cinema spot from Toronto’s Gee Jeffery & Partners. With the slick look of an action film, the spot delivers an explosive illustration of the gravity of a cell phone ringing during a movie.

‘Phone Bomb’ has garnered a number of international awards including a Bronze Clio earlier this year.

Chu’s reel also included two high-energy spots for Panasonic, a black-and-white spot for Cineplex, which took a lower key approach to depicting the theater chain’s efforts to improve urban centers in which it is located, as well as a spot for Kodak.

While Chu won by a significant margin, the level of competition was high for this year’s entrants.

Among the 200-plus industry guests at the event, the buzz was about the consistently high quality of the reels which played throughout the evening on screens scattered throughout the venue. There was a stream of commentary about the high-budget look achieved on many spots which were actually assembled on a shoestring.

That a new director can get a spot the caliber of ‘Phone Bomb’ on his reel reflects well on the status of Canadian advertising on the whole, say many in the industry.

While Chu said that the grand-scale spot involved ‘calling in favors,’ it also reflects the willingness on the part of a production shop to put resources behind an up-and-comer and a willingness on the part of the agency to take a risk

Saatchi creative director Terry Balagia talked about the international recognition of Canadian directorial talent as among the best anywhere.

‘Directors here grow up in an environment where they are forced to do more with less,’ says Balagia. ‘They become more resourceful, they are forced to develop a sense of problem solving and conceptual muscle that gives them an edge down the road.’

Balagia pointed to the high competence level among producers and support of new talent by clients, but singled out the role of the production company in bringing along fresh talent. ‘The real heroes are the production companies who continue to make that huge financial commitment it takes to nurture young talent,’ says Balagia. ‘They need and deserve our support.’

The quality of work being done by new directors also speaks to the caliber of Canadian creative work, which is arguably assuming a larger place on the world stage with a spate of recent international award wins, including those at this year’s Cannes festival, considered the plum amongst the hundreds of existing ad awards.

That Canada won eight Lions for tv work at Cannes (see Word, p. 15) and ranked among the top international production companies – with Avion Films finishing in the top 10 for the Cannes Palme D’Or – had a high resonance among those attending the First Cut event and in the industry at large.

Top five First Cutter Stephen Scott talked at the event about the importance of strong creative as well as a strong support system for a new director. ‘You need good creative to a be a good director,’ he said.

Scott, an award-winning director in the music video realm who recently made the transition to helming commercials, pointed to clients’ increased willingness to take risks with non-traditional approaches to advertising.

Scott gives the example of the Eaton’s-meets-Hole juxtaposition in a spot he directed for the Canadian retail institution, which used the song stylings of the not-quite-mor band as a soundtrack to its advertising.

Scott pointed to other examples of advertisers using unexpected elements, including car company Volkswagen’s engaging yet little-known music in its ads.