Revery has expanded their creative roster with the addition of award-winning Director Alexander Gilbert.
He has hit the ground running directing the first episode of a series titled “Future Self,” a project in collaboration with Amazon Web Services’s (AWS) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Scholarship program.
“As an independent filmmaker, I began working with Revery in 2020, and have been in and out of projects with them for the past couple of years, ” shares Gilbert. “At Revery, there’s a lot of energy and love that gets put into the creative work that extends to the people creating it and it feels special to join the team that has given me some of my first opportunities.”
Gilbert is an emerging multi-ethnic filmmaker of Indian and Hispanic descent whose portfolio spans multiple genres. A recent Fellow of the AICP Commercial Directors Diversity Program, Alexander’s work consists of heartfelt documentary films, cinematic branded content and elegantly crafted commercial work that has landed him several awards including the 2022 SHOOT New Directors Showcase, AICP, Young Director Awards, Young Ones ADC Award and more.
Gilbert’s debut project with Revery, “Future Self,” is a series formed in collaboration with AWS to raise awareness for the AWS AI & ML Scholarship program, which aims to help underserved and underrepresented youth learn foundational ML concepts to prepare them for careers in AI and ML.
Each year, 2,500 scholarships are awarded globally to students seeking to learn and apply ML skills including José Tapia, Vani Agarwal and Olympiah Otieno who participated in the inaugural launch of “Future Self.” As a director, Alex was pivotal in partnering closely with José Tapia for the series’ first episode, and also editing most of the series content.
The series highlights the stories of these students, overcoming obstacles while navigating and defining what a career in technology might look like for them today. Gilbert saw a connection to his own story in this project and with Revery in full support, they set out to raise more awareness for this program through each episode. Watch below:
REELated:
“We are so truly thrilled to welcome Alex to the Revery team,” expresses Revery Founder and ECP, Davis Priestley. “He is at that exciting moment in his career where he knows who he is, what he wants to say, and has the experience, the craft, the presence to command a project and bring it all together. He is a natural teammate at Revery – passionate, ambitious, a dreamer, but grounded and stays connected to values we all share – integrity, kindness, and a true love of storytelling.“
“It was a great feeling to kick off production knowing how much the team at AWS believed in the vision for José’s story. This project really brought me back to my roots and the holy grail of filmmaking approach, running around with your friends and a camera,” recalls Gilbert.
“We had a very tight-knit crew that not only allowed us to cover a lot of ground, but enter José’s life in a less intrusive way. This stripped-down approach afforded us a lot of unique opportunities to tell a deeper story. We spent our last day on set with the Tapia family sitting around the kitchen table looking through old family photos. Fast forward to a couple weeks after shooting, I’m editing late at night in the backroom of the Revery office with tears in my eyes. It was an honor to tell such a personal story, especially one that I see parts of my own family story in.”
“‘Future Self’ has been a dream project for Revery. It is a project style that fits our integrated studio model so perfectly, and allows our teams to truly share creative ownership in projects with our clients. The scholarship at its core represents a mission that aligns deeply with Revery’s vision that stories matter because they affirm lives, create connection, and make the world better,“ says Priestley.
The remaining episodes of the AWS “Future Self” Series and all of its supporting campaign elements are forthcoming in the next few weeks.
