An impressive turnout, a gracious winner and universal acknowledgment of the importance of recognizing Canadian talent marked the first annual Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback First Cut Award for best new director of the year. Spy Films’ Pete Henderson thanked supporter Don Allan of Revolver and wiped away a mock tear before settling into the inscribed director’s chair symbolizing First Cut victory.

Henderson emerged from 46 entrants to take top honors which, in addition to the seat of power, include a trip to next year’s Cannes Advertising Festival. Qualifying directors fulfilled entry criteria of being currently represented by a Canadian production company; having directing careers which have spanned less than two years; currently residing in Canada; and having at least one publicly aired tv spot on their reel.

Based on the criteria of style, storytelling, performance, most promise and overall reel, the top 10 directors according to First Cut judges were: Henderson; Revolver’s Drew Jarvis; The Partners’ Film Company’s Floria Sigismondi; Kessler Irish Films’ Ron Baxter Smith; Revolver’s Allan Mestel; Partners’ Clay Straub; Radke Films’ Mark Mainguy; Spy Films’ George Vale; Spy’s Javier Aguilera and Avion’s Tim Hamilton.

Among the directors and the roughly 200 attendees at Toronto’s DOTCOM Cafe, who ate, drank and partook of pink cake, comments were earnest and ran along very similar themes. The event was acknowledged as a genuine success and as an important step in generating some critical recognition of the abundance of talent among Canadian directors.

Although the surprise factor may have been less than overwhelming, a happy Henderson says he was ‘totally knocked out’ by the win. Henderson acknowledged those, including Revolver’s Allan who gave him the opportunities to produce good work, and lauded the talent of the other competitors. ‘People seem genuinely happy for me,’ he said. ‘And just when I was getting cynical.’

Addressing the crowd, Saatchi executive vp creative director and First Cut cofounder Peter Rigby said he was ‘amazed at the talent’ evident in the three hours of reels in the contest. He said the advertising industry has a responsibility to provide directors with better quality scripts and expressed the desire to make First Cut an international award. ‘I’d like to see it become a mini-Cannes,’ he said later.

Mestel admitted pride at being named near the top of a list of worthy talent, and said the event was part of a long overdue recognition of the country’s directors. ‘It’s endemic in Canadian society to pooh-pooh talent that has come up through the Canadian system. We have to try and de-glamorize the whole idea about using u.s. directors,’ he said.

Baxter Smith said it was time to bring Canadian talent and a strong Canadian identity to the fore. ‘I’ve traveled the world and we are a very distinct culture. There is a huge creativity here.’

Enthusiasm for the event was reflected by attendees who made specific efforts to attend. Executive producer Carlo Trulli from Spy Films – which had four directors entered and three in the top 10 – made the trip from Mexico. And First Cut entrant Frederic Desjardins from Montreal’s Jet Films came from Quebec solely to attend the evening’s festivities, meet the people, and see where his reel fit in the overall scheme.

Saatchi president Patrick Pitcher said he was stunned by the success of the event and said it was important that creative directors encourage Canadian directors. ‘The industry is faced with work moving to the u.s., we have to deal with that,’ he said.

Pitcher echoed Rigby’s wish to globalize the competition: ‘(My) sense is that Canada doesn’t do enough to encourage international competition and recognition of the country.’ TI