The Grand Jury for the 2023 CICLOPE Awards has been selected, and Press Kitchen is proud to announce that Mr. Bronx Audio Post Executive Producer, Hanna Choi, Modern Post Managing Partner/EP, Charlyn Derrick, Sound Off Films Founder/EP, Adrienne Hall, BUTTER Music & Sound Executive Producer, Renée Massé, and Smartypants Founding Director Joshua Seftel have all been selected to this years grand jury. The CICLOPE Awards ceremony will be held on Nov. 9 2023, with the Shortlist being announced on Oct. 25 2023.
The Awards are a part of the CICLOPE Festival, a 3-day international conference dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the year’s very best commercials, music videos, and short films. The CICLOPE Festival which will be held from Nov 7-9 2023, has been held in Berlin, Germany since 2013 and is one of the most unique and inspiring networking opportunities gathering some of the most influential players and crafters in the advertising and entertainment industry.
Meet the jurors below:
Hanna Choi – Mr. Bronx Audio Post, Executive Producer
Hanna Choi is the Executive Producer at Mr. Bronx Audio Post, which has provided sound design and mix for Beyonce’s Lemonade and Black Is King, HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and 2 Dope Queens, and Hulu’s Ramy, as well as brands such as Nike, Supercell, Spotify, Visa, Budweiser, BMW, Allstate, and more.
Charlyn Derrick – Modern Post, Managing Partner/EP
Charlyn Derrick is Managing Partner/Executive Producer at Modern Post. With over 20 years of experience in post production, she was instrumental in evolving Modern Post from a boutique editorial shop into an award winning full-service post production company with bi-coastal offices. She unites a deep understanding of the creative process with a natural ability for building strong teams, growing creative careers and promoting healthy company culture; evidenced by the company’s diverse roster and robust following of loyal clients and creatives. Throughout her career, she has produced numerous iconic campaigns and continues to champion excellence in craft with an eye to creating pathways for diverse voices.
Adrienne Hall – Sound Off Films, Founder/EP
Adrienne Hall is an Emmy nominated, Webby and Clio award-winning filmmaker specializing in cause-based documentary and branded content designed to move the needle on pressing social and environmental causes across the globe. Adrienne is the Co-Founder and Executive Producer of Sound Off Films, a production powerhouse on the vanguard of socially conscious film and content creation. Under Adrienne’s leadership, Sound Off has won top international awards and collaborated with top global brands. Bringing a purpose-driven, non-fiction background to every project she pursues, Adrienne’s distinctive sensibility, as well as her experienced problem-solving approach, rocket many of her projects to achieve high visibility and impact. Adrienne was part of the production team on the Oscar and Primetime Emmy-nominated Racing Extinction, directed by Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) and produced episodes of ESPN’s 30 for 30. Her attention-grabbing work with agencies and nonprofits has allowed her to tell stories for many of the world’s biggest brands including Meta, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, xBox, Lyft, Nike, The North Face, Infiniti, and Toyota.
Adrienne cut her teeth in the industry attending Florida State University where she studied film theory and independent film acquisition, distribution, and marketing. She took up a post as a teaching assistant for the College of Motion Picture Arts where she met Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, The Underground Railroad) and Louie Psihoyos (The Cove, The Gamechangers), which defined the early chapters of her career. She went to work for Louie Psihoyos during the release and impact campaign of The Cove, which after winning every major award for documentaries precipitated the follow up with Racing Extinction four years later. In 2013, she reunited with Barry Jenkins and joined his commercial production company Strike Anywhere, creating content for world-class brands in the midst of the development of Moonlight. In 2010, Adrienne met Annie Costner while working with Louie, and together founded Sound Off Films in 2014. The studio aims to create projects with a conscience that connect with audiences and move the needle on social and environmental issues.
Renée Massé – BUTTER Music & Sound, Executive Producer
Originally from Canada, Renée Massé is a music industry veteran with a decade of experience as a producer and music supervisor. Renée is currently the Executive Producer of BUTTER Music and Sound New York. As an Executive leader running BUTTER NY’s office, Renée oversees business development, client relations, and creative management across all projects. Before joining BUTTER as Executive Producer, she held a producer role at the boutique music and licensing company Shout It Out Loud Music. Massé was the driving force behind the production of Comedy Central’s 2018 sonic rebrand and has lent her expertise to projects for companies such as Google WAYMO, Asics, and Olay. After receiving her Masters degree from NYU in Music Business, Massé oversaw the music department as Music Supervisor at the award-winning post-production studio, Headroom where she also launched a covers division and master library focusing on the production of covers for licensing opportunities recorded by talented, unsigned artists. She brings this passion for supporting emerging talent to original music and licensing opportunities in her role at BUTTER. Massé is an alum of the Women in Music organization committee where she served as Global Vice Chair of Partnerships and Development.
Joshua Seftel – Smartypants, Founding Director
Joshua Seftel is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker known for directing the Emmy-winning landmark series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the feature film War, Inc. starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Ben Kingsley, and his regular appearances on CBS Sunday Morning where he interviews his 86-year-old mother. His most recent film, Stranger at the Gate, Executive Produced by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and nominated for a 2023 Academy Award®, is part of Seftel’s Emmy– and Peabody-nominated Secret Life of Muslims project (SXSW), which combats Islamophobia with filmmaking. Seftel, who experienced antisemitism as a child, has been committed to working on this subject matter for the past seven years. He founded the Brooklyn-based production company, Smartypants, in 2014 to create impactful independent films and to bring that same kind of storytelling to work for brand clients, including Delta Air Lines, Adidas, and Cadillac. Seftel received his first Emmy nomination at age 22 with his documentary Lost and Found about Romania’s orphaned children. The film led to the American adoption of thousands of Romanian orphans. Some of his other award-winning films include the political campaign documentary Taking on the Kennedys (POV), the underdog sports film The Home Team (SXSW), the behind-the-scenes film about Annie’s Broadway revival It’s the Hard Knock Life (PBS), and the artist portrait The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano (Tribeca Film Festival) which won the IDA Documentary Award and became the most viewed New York Times Op-Doc of the year. He is also a contributor to the Peabody Award-winning podcast This American Life and to The New York Times.