REVERSE Welcomes LA-Based Director Cali Bondad

Production company REVERSE has signed Cali Bondad for US commercial representation. As an Asian-American director, her unique lens is grounded in character-driven storytelling, influenced by her mixed ethnic background, her training as an editor, and her agency background. Cali has already wrapped three campaigns under the REVERSE banner for Sparklight via Team One, Cox Business out of FCB Chicago, and Nivea through Razorfish. 

“Cali has years of experience under her belt, but she has that freshness and no-fear attitude of a budding director,” says Thibaut Estellon, REVERSE founder/executive producer. “She’s always upbeat, communicative, and willing to push the creative boundaries while being a team player who can manage the stress and pressure of being on-set with compassion and a sense of humour. With the proper development strategy, I’m confident and excited all at once that we can help her expand into new genres and reach new heights as a filmmaker.”

“I was struck by the ‘go, go, go’ mentality and pursuit of perfection that Thibaut and the team brought to these initial projects I directed through REVERSE,” adds Cali. “The level of talent and standard of the craft here is exceptionally high – and I love that every director on this roster has an instrumental role in the overall curation.”

For the past six years, Cali has been working as a freelance director, collaborating with such brands as AT&T, Nike, YouTube, Google, Secret, Georgia Power, and Uber. Previously, she was repped as a commercial director by Workhouse Creative and Joinery. Her career in the advertising world began as an editor at ad agency Mekanism, where she worked on commercials for Muscle Milk, Ben and Jerry’s, Ralph Lauren, and The North Face. For the latter, Cali was recognised with a One Show Award of Merit in the Editing category for the brand’s 'Never Stop' anthem spot. She was also featured as a 'New Female Director' in the One Show Film Festival in 2017.

More recently, she was a finalist for the Lynn Shelton Grant to make her first feature film, a highly personal script that takes place in Manila, Philippines, and is told through the eyes of a young, mixed-race American woman who travels to her father’s homeland for the first time. 

“I’m always looking to grow and perfect my craft; to find that powerful intersection of stylisation with human emotion,” concludes Cali. “Being at a place that not only shares similar aesthetics and sensibilities but also shares a goal to shift the optics on set by bringing more POC and women into production, I know we’ll continue to achieve great things together.”