alumnus and award-winning commercial and film director Bryan Buckley ’85 was among the nominees announced Thursday, Jan. 10, for the 85th Academy Awards. Buckley directed the short film “Asad,” which was nominated in the Short Film/Live Action category. It is Buckley’s first Oscar nomination.
Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Oscars will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 24.
“Asad” was shot in Africa with an all-Somali cast of refugees and was honored as the Best Narrative Short at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Since then, the film has been touring the globe and winning awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Rhode Island International Film Festival, among others.
Buckley, who earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in advertising design from VPA’s Department of Design, was dubbed “King of the Super Bowl” by the New York Times. He has directed more than 40 commercials for the big game since 2000. In addition to winning more than 40 Cannes Lions, he has earned six Emmy nominations and the distinction of being named Commercial Director of the Decade in a 2010 Adweek readers’ poll. Creativity Magazine also named him one of the 50 Best Creative Minds of the last 25 years. Numerous pieces of Buckley’s work have been inducted into the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for their cultural relevance, and he has been honored by the Directors Guild of America as the Commercial Director of the Year.
In 1997, with partner Hank Perlman, Buckley co-founded the commercial production company Hungry Man in New York. By 2004, the company had won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
