Aggressive (directors)

Aggressive is a New York based design studio founded by Grammy award-winning filmmakers Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro.^[1][2][3] They have been described by Movie Creation Mag as "having a fascination with the wonderful, in the likes of the surrealist Rafał Olbiński" and "tenacious about pushing themselves and some overclocked hardware in order to create striking videos" by Video Static.^[4]

They have directed and produced music videos for artists including The Beatles, Michael Jackson^[5] and Pharrell Williams, and created an XR concert for Alicia Keys.^[6][7][8] They have also directed commercials for brands such as Toyota, Bloomberg, Amazon, Google, Boeing, Honda, American Express, Intel, and more.

Their work has been shown at events like SXSW, Global Expo Dubai, The Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach, The UN General Assembly, and Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

Topaller and Shapiro’s film MURALS, which uses 3D scanning to depict the war devastation in Ukraine and images of Banksy’s artwork,^{[9][10][11][12][13]} premiered at the Cannes Film Festival^[14] and won the Audience Award for "Best Art & XR" at the BFI London Film Festival and the “Best International Immersive” Award at Doc Edge Festival.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Their science fiction thriller ESCAPE ATTEMPT premiered at the Sitges Film Festival^[19][20][21] and won the "Navigator Pirx Award for Best Sci-Fi" at the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival.^[22] It also received "Best Sci-Fi" and "Grand Prize" awards at FilmQuest^[23] and debuted in Canada at the Fantasia International Film Festival.^{[24][25][20][26][27]}

Both coming up from VFX backgrounds, Topaller and Shapiro take a hands-on approach in all aspects of the process, from concept development, to shoot direction, all the way through post-production.^[28]

In February 2022, Aggressive launched Paper Planes, a relief project supporting Ukrainian artists impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[29][30] The not-for-profit collaborated with over 50 Ukrainian artists, creating over 500 pieces of art, culminating in a charity exhibition at the ShowGallery in Los Angeles on March 27, 2023.^[31][32]