*Artists Film Co. disbands

The Artists Film Company executive producer Karen Silver is saying farewell to her roster of directors in order to concentrate full time on Treehouse North Productions, a commercial roadhousing company which she started five years ago.

Suzie Neill is still repping Artists directors and a deal is in the works for another local production company to take over that roster.

*Godsall around at Avion

Avion Films has added new directing talent Tim Godsall to its roster.

Godsall was born in Montreal and lived in Toronto for a number of years before moving to New York and a stint as a writer for Spy magazine.

Back in Toronto, Godsall worked on the creative side at agencies including McCann, Doner Schur Peppler and Roche Macaulay & Partners, and then in New York again as copywriter and creative director at Kirshenbaum and Bond.

Godsall began directing a short time ago with projects for Roche, Hill Holiday in Boston and Crispin Porter in Miami.

‘I’m excited about working with Avion, specifically, and about working in Toronto generally,’ says Godsall. ‘Toronto is still a somewhat unrecognized ad center in the u.s. for some reason and it’s never made sense to me. There are amazing people in Toronto doing really smart work.’

*filmblanc’s global lineup

Toronto’s filmblanc Canada has finalized its new roster of international directors, bringing a large cross-section of talent from as far afield as Spain, Italy and South America to the Canadian and global ad market.

The lineup consists of France’s Eric De La Hosseraye, Jean Pierre Pozzi, Simon Kentish, Seb & Simon, Koen Mortier, Pascal Zabus and Costa Kekemenis; from Israel, Yom Tov Moshe; Italy’s Luca Maroni; Argentina’s Jorge Malatesta, Ruben Andon, Carlos Ameglio, Jose Luis Marquez and Adriano Bruzesse; Alastair Patton from Scotland; Spain’s Pablo Hermida and Pep Bosch; and New Zealand-based Richard Long.

The roster represents directorial talent from a wide range of stylistic backgrounds and experience; some are top names in their respective markets, some are new talent.

filmblanc is the production arm of Toronto’s Weis Advertising and has offered production services for some time, with affiliates in Europe, South America and Asia.

The shop was launched internationally at this year’s Cannes Advertising Festival, where company president Noemi Weis generated world awareness about Canada’s merits as a commercial production destination. The company has since been assembling an array of talent to bring a ‘distinctive accent’ to domestic and foreign spot work.

‘With this roster we have the ability to add a different touch to creative,’ says Weis. ‘As well, we are globalizing the accessibility of talent; we also have Canadian talent we market abroad.’

Weis says the international lineup brings a new perspective to spot work and is accessible within typical budget considerations.

The shop is currently working on a Chiclets project, which originated in South America and is shooting in Whistler, b.c. with Argentinean Marquez.

*Taxi’s Popescu shifts gears

Taxi’s David Popescu is switching sides, moving from agency art director to full-time spot director with Sparks Productions as of Dec. 1.

Prior to his six-month gig with Taxi, Popescu was with Leo Burnett where he had an opportunity to hone his directorial skills on a spot for Kellogg’s Pop Tarts featuring a large, sinister gentleman pushing a watermelon in a baby carriage and other jobs with similarly strange creative.

In keeping with the breakfast pastry theme, upon moving to Taxi, Popescu worked on a spot for ‘Pop Tarts’ mortal enemy,’ Pillsbury Toaster Strudel.

Before making his final exit from the agency world, he will be lensing one more job (having nothing to do with sweet treats) for Gynecure, which he says has a very funny script.

‘I like comedy,’ Popescu says. ‘I don’t think my parents can believe I’ve turned watching Monty Python and sctv into a career.’

Also new to the Sparks roster is l.a.-based Stu Haggman and tabletop Chilean director/cameraman Leo Kocking, whose reel consists of a downpour of liquid effects spots for such products as Evian and Coke.

*Industrious Jurisic

Ammirati Puris Lintas senior art director Stephen Jurisic has also caught the directing bug and signed on with Industry Films. Jurisic, who plans to make a slow transition into a full-time directing, will complete his first spot early in the new year with the help of dop Barry Parrell and Stealing Time editor Alex Eaton.

*Rule Canada

Canadian work scored 10 out of a possible 157 awards, winning in every medium at the 1998 London International Advertising Awards, handed out Nov. 16 in London.

Canada picked up two of 42 tv statues, with Gee Jeffery & Partners winning in the corporate television category for Cantel AT&T’s ‘Phone Bomb,’ directed by Eddy Chu at Radke Films, and Leo Burnett, Toronto, winning for Kellogg’s Special K ‘Resolution,’ directed by Richard D’Alessio out of Imported Artists.

Burnett also won in the print category for Special K’s ‘Size Doesn’t Matter.’

Canada won two awards in the radio category – Young & Rubicam’s ‘Doctor Proctor’ for H&R Block and Ammirati’s ‘Advanced Beauty Clinic’ for Labatt Blue. Canucks also picked four awards in package design and one in the interactive category for Palmer Jarvis/ddb.

Wongdoody of Seattle won the Grand Prize in tv/cinema for its ‘See Them in Your Home’ effort for the Seattle Supersonics (which also, refreshingly, won the best low-budget campaign prize), directed by Tony Ober out of Seattle’s Oberlenz Films.

*D’Amato’s Final triumphs

Maxx Productions director George D’Amato picked up the Grand Jury Gold Statue and best short subject, best of show award with his directorial debut, The Final, at the Wordlfest Flagstaff/Houston International Film Festival.

*Post Shop additions

Brian Patterson and Steven Rude have joined The Post Shop.

Patterson, former director of sales and marketing at Magnetic North, is the new head of sales, promotions and marketing. Rude is the new creative director whose duties include directing all graphics and animation for the shop.

*Generator fetes friends

Those possessing the shiny blue key were admitted to Generator’s Wellington Street home earlier this month to have a drink, eat some sushi and cut a rug in the production company’s soundstage where Soul Stew cranked out the tunes.

*The joy of giving

Command Post/TOYBOX will be scrapping the traditional Christmas card this season and replacing it with GiftBox Christmas Drive ’98.

Command Post will be dropping off bags Dec. 8 and 9 for its commercial, television and film clients in Toronto and Vancouver to fill with toys and food in support of the Salvation Army’s Red Shield program.

The shop will pick up full bags on Dec. 17.

*S.A. shoot for de Carvelho

While MacLaren McCann has worked on print campaigns for Bacardi Light and Limon, a spot for Disaronno Amaretto marks its first tv spot for the liqueur.

The provocative commercial, directed by Radke Films’ Ricardo de Carvelho and lensed by dop Paul Gilpin, was shot in South Africa and features two women and two men in a bar and lots of back-and-fourth flirtatious glances.

Jamie Way was art director and Randy Diplock wrote the copy.

*Correction

Production house producer on Circle Productions’ ‘That’s Life’ for the United Way, this year’s #6 Top Spot winner, was Shari Erlichman.