Australian director, Josh Patrick Dawson, can no longer attend AdFest.

Naoto Mitake, who was next in line with the sixth highest score for his film script, will replace him. Mitake is a Director at AOI Pro in Tokyo and is also represented by Directors Think Tank in Kuala Lumpur.

Every year, AdFest invites emerging commercial directors to write a short film as part of its Fabulous Five program. It has become one of the world’s most respected platforms for kick-starting the careers of commercial directors. This year, directors had the task of writing a five-minute script inspired by the theme of Adfest 2019, TMRRW.TDAY. All scripts were then scored by Adfest’s 2019 Film Craft Lotus & New Director Lotus Jury.

The five directors with the five highest scores are now:

• Jo Motoyo, Director from Tokyo/Taiyo Kikaku Co., Tokyo
• Mai Murata, Assistant Director from Dentsu Creative X Inc., Tokyo
• Naoto Mitake, Director from AOI Pro., Tokyo & Directors Think Tank, Kuala Lumpur
• Rin Soejima, Director from AOI Pro.,Tokyo
• Tomu Yamaguchi, Director from AOI Pro., Tokyo

“Congratulations to Mr Mitake for joining our line-up of Fabulous Five directors,” stated Jimmy Lam, Adfest president. “The Fabulous Five film program presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show off their talents to creative and production professionals.”

Motoyo, Murata, Mitake, Soejima and Yamaguchi now have less than two weeks to finish casting, directing and editing their films in time to premiere at the The Fabulous Five 2019 film screening, which will take place during AdFest 2019 on Thursday March 21, 3:40pm – 5.25pm. The session will be moderated by Ali Brown, partner and executive producer at Prettybird in Los Angeles.

Many new and emerging directors who have screened their films at AdFest have gone on to achieve great things. As a result, ADFEST has expanded the program from Fabulous Four to Fabulous Five for the first time this year, giving more directors the chance to make their first big break.

ADFEST 2019 runs from March 20 to March 23 at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand. Tickets are available here.