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A Collaboration that Exceeds the Sum of Its Parts |
Client: Louis Vuitton Bruno Aveillan Bruno Aveillan was born in Toulouse and is one of France's most distinguished and internationally sought after commercials director. After graduating from Ecole Supérieur des Beaux Arts in Toulouse, he worked in advertising as an art director and then joined Quad Productions in Paris in 1995 as a director. Since then, he has achieved international acclaim for directing highly sophisticated and superbly cinematographic commercials for prestigious clients such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, Louis Vuitton, Acura, Perrier, Audi, Orange, Club Med, Bailey's, Lacoste, Nike, Volvo, Guerlain and Philips. Aveillan has a highly developed artistic sensibility and innate talent for capturing extraordinary images that leave a lasting impression on the viewer, critics and industry trade alike. Having studied as a painter, his meticulous attention to detail and his devotion to unveiling the exquisite and the aesthetic, regardless the subject, is a testament to his passion and perfection. Aveillan first made his name in 1998 with awards-winning spots for Perrier La Foule and Paco Rabanne's XS. By 2001, he was directing alongside Martin Scorsese, Wong Kar-Wai and Oliver Stone on the high-profile Orange spots for Euro RSCG BETC, Paris. In 1999, he succeeded the prestigious directors Lars von Trier and Roland Joffé to direct the new episode of the famous advertising saga CNP. To the American audience, Aveillan is best known for his epic commercials; Medusa, Dragon, and Dagger for Thermasilk (Agency JWT New York), Nintendo Game Boy Symphony (Agency Leo Burnett, Chicago), Miller labels (Agency The Martin Agency), Time Warner (Agency Beaucoup Chapeaux), Lexus Button (Agency Team One) and Lanvin Oxygene with supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Aveillan's spot for Nissan Infiniti's Anthem, Chiat/Day Los Angeles, broke during the 2002 Academy Awards.His talent for creating whole universes and his ability to work with highly sophisticated visual effects is also apparent in Nintendo's Symphony, Bailey's Floating (Agency BBH London) and Audi Q7. Equally, his superbly sensual and poetic commercials Magnum Five Senses, Paco Rabanne XS, Gaz de France La Dolce Vita underline his artistic sensibility. During his career Bruno Aveillan has also filmed world renowned movie actors such as Monica Bellucci, Claudia Schiffer, Amy Smart, Sharon Stone, Catherine Hurley, Milla Jovovich, Jessica Stam, Inna Zobova, Louise Pedersen, Julia Stegner, Estelle Lefébure, Elsa Benitez, Mylène Farmer, Sunniva Stordahl and Virginie Ledoyen. Today, Aveillan has won a multitude of awards and many of his commercials have become a reference for cinematographic brilliance. In 2008, Aveillan directed the first ever brand campaign for Louis Vuitton A Journey which won several awards such as the 2008 Gold Clio Award for Best Cinematography and the Gold Award at the 2008 London International Awards. He has also directed Mylene Farmer's experimental music video The Farmer Project. Aveillan also supports the action of ONG such as Reporters without borders and the Food bank for whom he has shot several commercials. Bruno Aveillan had his first solo photographic exhibition DIOTOPES recently at Galerie Léo Scheer in Paris. |
Gustavo A. Santaolalla Santaolalla's professional music career began in 1967, when he co-founded the group Arco Iris, an Argentine band that pioneered the fusion of rock and Latin American folk as part of 'rock nacional'. The band adopted the lifestyle of a yogic commune guided by former model Danais Wynnycka (known as Dana) and her partner, musician Ara Tokatlian. The band had a few hits, such as Mañanas Campestres ("Country Mornings"), and made inroads into different forms of expression (notably a ballet piece for Oscar Aráiz), but Santaolalla felt constricted by the strict requirements of Dana's teachings, which forbid meat, alcohol and drugs, and mandated abstinence from sex. He left the group in 1975. A year later, he assembled Soluna, in which he played alongside teenage pianist and singer Alejandro Lerner and his then-girlfriend Monica Campins. Together they recorded just one album (Energia Natural, 1977). Santaolalla left for Los Angeles, where he adopted a rock and roll sound and made the rounds with his band Wet Picnic, together with ex-Crucis member Anibal Kerpel. He briefly returned to Argentina in 1981, to produce Leon Gieco's Pensar en Nada and record his first solo album. As a solo artist, he has recorded three albums. His first self-titled album, Santaolalla (1981), broke new ground by incorporating the "1980s" sound into rock in Argentina for the first time. He was joined by Lerner and the Willy Iturry-Alfredo Toth rhythm section, who were two-thirds of the band GIT. His second album, titled Gas, was released in 1995. His most recent solo album, titled Ronroco (1998), contained several tracks with the characteristic sound of the charango, a folk string instrument, that poured into what constituted his next significant endeavor: music for movies. Ronroco also contains his (nearly)-solo piece for charango Iguazu, which has been used for the films The Insider by Michael Mann and Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu and a 2007 Vodafone TV commercial and in the HBO TV series Deadwood and the track De Ushuaia a La Quiaca used by Walter Salles in his The Motorcycle Diaries. Santaolalla aided the development of rock en español by acting as producer for Mexican acts Fobia, Molotov, Café Tacuba, Julieta Venegas, the Colombian singer Juanes, chilean rock trio Los Prisioneros, Argentine rock bands Divididos and Bersuit Vergarabat and León Gieco's De Ushuaia a La Quiaca (1 and 2), among many others. Santaolalla transferred his efforts to film soundtracks in the late 1990s, producing albums for the films Amores Perros, 21 Grams and The Motorcycle Diaries. Currently based in California where he first moved in 1978, one of his more recent contributions has been to the instrumental music for the soundtrack to the 2005 Ang Lee film, Brokeback Mountain, from which "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" won the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Santaolalla has received a 2006 Academy Award for Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) for Brokeback Mountain. In 2007, he received his second Academy Award for the film score to Babel, beating out such composers as Thomas Newman, Alexandre Desplat, and Javier Navarrete. Gustavo dedicated the award to his father and to his country Argentina. In addition to his film work, Santaolalla has acted as the producer of Gaby Kerpel's Carnabailito and co-produced the Kronos Quartet's Nuevo, an album which renders homage to the rich musical heritage of Mexico. He has also been part of the resurgent neo-tango movement, as prime mover behind the Bajofondo Tango Club collective. He is also mentioned as the co-producer of Calle 13's song Tango del Pecado, from their album Residente o Visitante. In 2005 he received the Konex Award as best Argentine artistic producer of the 1995-2005 decade. In 2008, Santaolalla composed the soundtrack for the Louis Vuitton film Where will life take you? directed by Bruno Aveillan, as part of the Journeys campaign. Santaolalla has also collaborated with Argentine Composer Osvaldo Golijov on several projects commissioned by soprano Dawn Upshaw. These include the opera, Ainadamar, based on the murder of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and Ayre, a collection of folk songs, in which Santaolalla plays with a group that calls itself The Andalucian Dogs. Santaolalla currently lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife of 23 years Alejandra Palacios and children Luna (b. 1995) and Don Juan Nahuel (b. 1999). His eldest daughter Ana (b. 1980) is from his previous partnership with Monica Campins. |
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