Laurent Touil-Tartour

Laurent Touil-Tartour (born November 23, 1971)[1] is a French film director, screenwriter, producer. He is known for writing, directing and producing the web series Urban Wolf (2010). His works have been described by the American Film Institute,[2] Wired Magazine,[3] The Wall Street Journal[4] and others as "original and visionary".[5] In 2010 Touil-Tartour licensed the worldwide distribution rights of Urban Wolf to Sony Pictures Entertainment.[6] In 2011 Touil-Tartour has signed with film director/producer Michael Bay's production company The Institute to direct feature films, commercials, video games, web content and/or TV shows.[7]

Laurent Touil-Tartour
Touil-Tartour in 1999
Born (1971-11-23) November 23, 1971[1]
Paris, France
Other namesLTT
OccupationFilm director, producer, screenwriter
Years active1991–present

Filmography

Web & Mobile
Main article: Urban Wolf
  • Urban Wolf (2010) – creator, producer, writer, director

Urban Wolf is an award-winning online non-verbal drama series, with 15 webisodes of 4 minutes long each. The world premiere and first public screening of the show took place at Comic-Con 2009, in San Diego.

In 2009, at the 4th Annual Los Angeles Independent Television Festival Urban Wolf won the Award for Best Drama.[8] And in 2011, during the 15th Annual Webby Awards Urban Wolf won the People's Voice Award for Best Drama.[9] It also has been selected for the 2009 AFI DigiFest by the American Film Institute as "one of the most compelling example of new media storytelling".[10]

On March 31, 2010, Sony Pictures Entertainment officially announces a groundbreaking worldwide distribution deal for the series.[11] The show premiered on Sony Pictures Entertainment owned Crackle on May 13, 2010.[12] Then Sony Pictures syndicated the series in a multi-platform footprint including: YouTube, hulu, the PlayStation Network, Google TV, the Bravia Network, Animax, AXN, AT&T, Sprint.

On October 19, 2012, Apple releases an exclusive and innovative mobile app edition of Urban Wolf available on its 172 iTunes App Stores worldwide for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.[13] The Urban Wolf app edition features the entire 15 episodes of the series in HD and also offers an outstanding wealth of exclusive bonus feature to the next-gen format with in-depth background information. These extra materials function similarly to the extras section on a DVD box set.[14]

Feature films
  • San-Antonio (2004) – writer, co-producer, uncredited director[15]

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Reception

Laurent Touil-Tartour has received overwhelmingly enthusiastic critical reception upon the release of Urban Wolf. Journalist and critic Hugh Hart, writing for Wired Magazine noted: "Laurent Touil-Tartour exploits sharp edits, a driving score and spare cinematography to extract maximum tension and an handsomely filmed suspense drama.”[3] Hugh Hart also enjoyed the usage of non-verbal storytelling: "Not a word gets spoken in Urban Wolf. But even without dialogue, French filmmaker Laurent Touil-Tartour has made an unusually sophisticated spy-tech thriller.”[3]

Critic Jandy Stone Hardesty, in her review for Row Three, said that Touil-Tartour has “a nice flair for composition and a good sense of visual storytelling, he also knows how to do good twists and suggest things rather than spell them out, something I really appreciated.”[20] William Bibbiani, in CraveOnline, called it "an exciting little bit of filmmaking that deserves its notoriety and is worth howling about",[21] and Liz Shannon Miller writing in GigaOM wrote that "“Urban Wolf is a gripping thriller that stands out as proudly unique. Some of Wolf's execution might emulate classic 1970s thrillers, but the concept is pure 21st century, playing nimbly with issues of privacy and paranoia. When a director can make even the eating of a potato chip seem malevolent (as occurs in the yet-to-premiere episode 7), you know you've watching something special."[22]

Reviewing it for the Mingle Media TV Network, journalist Kristyn Burtt wrote: "The reason this series stands out amongst the pack is its cinematic feel and the utilization of mise en scene. You don't hear the main character utter a word until Episode 7, and boy, is it effective.”[23]

Awarding the film a five out of five star rating, Feo Amante's film critic E.C.McMullen Jr. wrote: "The tension from episode to episode is incredible and Laurent just keeps ramping it up. With its beautiful settings (shot in Paris, France), excellent cinematography, and super tight, witty action, this could very well define the future of online cinema. I'm not kidding! URBAN WOLF is a Turbo Thrust Cat and Mouse Thriller with a V8 engine!”[24]

Appearances in media
  • Eguiders – Touil-Tartour interview by Marc Ostrick. May 5, 2010[25]
  • The Web Files' – Touil-Tartour interview with Kristyn Burtt. May 12, 2010[26]
  • Paris Premiere – First TV appearance of the young French movie director Touil-Tartour in the hit TV series documentary Paris Derniere' 'Season 8, Episode 21: Original Air Date—April 26, 2002[27]

References
  1. Internet Movie Database. "IMDB LTT". imdb.com. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
  2. "AFI DigiFest Most Compelling Films of 2009".
  3. Wired Magazine (March 31, 2010). "Spy Thriller Urban Wolf Crackles With Tension (But Without Words)". wired.com. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
  4. The Wall Street Journal (June 9, 2010). "Web Series Tap Prime Time". wsj.com. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  5. Kantor, Jessica. "FNB Innovators: Laurent Touil Tartour". filmnewsbriefs.com. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  6. "Crackle.com Launches Acclaimed International Suspense Web Series 'Urban Wolf'". PR Newswire.
  7. http://www.theinstitute.tv/directors.php?id=19
  8. "The 2009 ITVFest winners are..."
  9. "Urban Wolf winner of the Best Drama Webby Awards 2011". Archived from the original on April 14, 2011.
  10. "AFI DigiFest Most Compelling Films of 2009".
  11. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cracklecom-launches-acclaimed-international-suspense-web-series-urban-wolf-89626007.html
  12. Hart, Hugh (March 31, 2010). "Spy Thriller Urban Wolf Crackles With Tension (But Without Words)". Wired.
  13. "Apple presents Urban Wolf". Apple. October 19, 2012.
  14. "Webby-winning series Urban Wolf comes to iOS". The AppSide. October 22, 2012. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013.
  15. San-Antonio at IMDb
  16. "2009 Dragon*Con Awards Winners".
  17. "THIS is one of the reasons we come to Comic-Con, to discover awesome work like URBAN WOLF! I got home and I wrote about the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con saying, "Every ComicCon has its one dark horse, some indie, just below the radar, that makes a splash. Usually it is a comic title, but this year I'm putting my money on a new webseries called URBAN WOLF. A Science Fiction Mystery Thriller written, directed, and produced by Laurent Touil Tartour..."".
  18. "Urban Wolf at the MIT Media Lab". Archived from the original on April 3, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  19. "Urban Wolf nominated for Best Drama at The Webby Awards 2011". Archived from the original on April 14, 2011.
  20. Jandy Hardesty (May 16, 2010). "Urban Wolf is watching you". rowthree.com. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  21. William Bibbiani (May 12, 2010). "Urban Wolf review". craveonline.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  22. Liz Shannon Miller (May 13, 2010). "Urban Wolf a Near-Perfect 21st Century Thriller". gigaom.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  23. Kristyn Burtt (May 17, 2010). "Urban Wolf behind the scenes". The Web Files. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  24. E.C.McMullen Jr. (May 14, 2010). "Urban Wolf review". feoamante.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  25. http://eguiders.com/studio/eg-live-urban-wolf-in-the-studio/
  26. The Web.Files No. 38 Urban Wolf on YouTube
  27. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346366/episodes#year-2002

Further Reading

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