Director William Armstrong Joins Robot

Born in Botswana and a UCT alum, William’s directing career launched abroad with a spot for Jaguar winning a Young Director Award at the Cannes Lions. The immediate exposure catapulted him to work with some of the world’s biggest brands including Adidas, Mercedes, BMW, Sony and Samsung.

William's approach is focused on the emotion in his performances, visually elevating scenes and finding a unique perspective in every environment. His work is often categorised as elemental, composed and full of sensitivity. 

William’s work back home includes the surf portrait Adam, which won the One Screen Emerging Director award in NYC and gold at Ciclope, and New Day, a music video about train surfing for Irish electronic artist Kormac which was shortlisted at the Cannes Lions for entertainment, as well as at the Webby Awards, 1.4 Awards and Kinsale Shark Awards.

In the past two years William’s work has crossed into longer form, with his latest short film Unspoken recently earning a world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, River Run and Cleveland, all Oscar-qualifying festivals, along with credits at over 50 festivals worldwide and an exclusive feature on The New Yorker. William is currently in development of a ten-episode period TV drama as a writer and director.

William said, I’m on the lookout for real stories, scripts that can be visually heightened or shaped with powerful emotions. Equally happy with people and character building or dynamic action projects, cars or sports.

"I’d been admiring Robot’s work and culture for some time, great directors and an amazing energy in everything they do. By co-incidence I bumped into one of the Robots in Cannes this year, who at the time was performing a stunt with a champagne glass on her forehead, above and beyond the qualities I look for in a producer. Along with the high calibre of work, they are great people, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally sign with a company at home for the first time."

Liam Johnson said, "We’re pumped to have Will join our roster of talent. His international experience elevates our directors showreel. His storytelling is emotive, authentic and cinematic - with a strong focus on character performances, which you can see and feel especially within his projects for Adidas and Unspoken."