Cynthia Rowley’s Taxi Minute

Those annoying little taxi TV screens never seem to have anything but gushy restaurant reviews and outdated headlines. But last week (Fashion Week), you might have spotted an intriguing 60-second film featuring ultra-chic girls climbing trees and hiding behind rocks in Central Park, a catchy garage rock tune playing in the background. The video, entitled “Hide and Seek,” marks Cynthia Rowley’s second time experimenting with taxi videos.

The spot was created by Andy Spade’s agency Partners & Spade in conjunction with the young New York-based film collective Red Bucket Films. “We liked the idea of making a small film rather than a [typical] commercial,” says Rowley. “We try to fit a full-length feature film into one minute. The little girl actually counts down from 60, starting at the beginning of the film, for the 60 seconds.”

Spade also collaborated with Red Bucket on Rowley’s film from last season, “A Musical…Chairs,” as well as a full-length feature that showed this year at Cannes, “Go Get Some Rosemary.” The company is made up of five core members—Alex Kalman (son of designer Tibor and illustrator Maira Kalman), Brett Jutkiewicz, Sam Lisenco, Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie. “Their sensibility is unique in that they create beautiful images and unexpected, emotional moments the way Godard and a lot of the French New Wave did,” says Spade. We expect to be seeing more from them soon.