Arrivals & Departures: Fish taps Yankiwis

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“We are stoked to welcome our new directing team Stacey Lee & Anthony Mathile who have just joined the Fish roster,” writes MD/EP James Moore.

“Hailing from New York, Los Angeles and the sunny shores of The Mount, Stacey and Anthony bring a very diverse set of backgrounds and experiences to their directing duo.”

Stacey Lee, a former creative at Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand (2002-2007), went on to work on the global adidas account at 180 Amsterdam and then Mother New York.

She has picked up awards at all the major shows, including Cannes, One Show, D&AD, AWARD and ranked 9th in the world at the Young Guns Advertising Awards.

After directing her first independent documentary in 2010 One Fire Ignites Another, she moved to the production side in 2012 first as a creative director and producer developing branded content and show formats at Vice, then independently for major brands including Absolut, Smirnoff, The New Yorker, Spotify, Tanqueray and Beats by Dre.


“As well as the Stones, he toured with Bowie, Sting, and Phil Collins.”


She was recently shortlisted at the Cannes Young Directors Award, and was one of five new female directors selected as part of the DGA/AICP Diversity showcase in 2017.

Anthony Mathile was raised in Illinois, and originally set out to be a musician and sound designer. But after a chance phone call from the Rolling Stones team, he ended up on tour as a band videographer & documentarian for six years.

As well as the Stones, he toured with Bowie, Sting, and Phil Collins. Soon after, he returned to New York and turned his hand to commercial directing, making global spots for Bacardi, Visa, Beats by Dre, Merrell and Samsung.

“Stacey and Anthony crossed paths in 2012 and have been working together ever since,” Moore says. “Their style is very much cool, doco-style, cinematic, photo-real work, talent-driven and certainly with a strong narrative element to everything they touch. Their short film, Live Fast Draw Yung premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2015 and went on to play globally (including the NZIFF) and pick up two Best in Show awards in Atlanta and Tacoma.

“They split their time between NY, LA and the Mount here in NZ, and have been working on their biggest project to date, a little boy called Otis.

“Naturally, they are now aiming to spend a lot more time in New Zealand visiting grandparents and bringing their unique creative vision and documentary approach to brands and creatives downunder.”


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