Ada Bligaard Søby is a Danish-born filmmaker and artist working in commercials, narrative films and documentaries. Her work is known for authentic performances, film craft and cinematic visuals, always with a perspective that makes room for viewers to truly connect with characters. Ada has directed commercials for Scandinavian brands such as Telenor, Arbejdernes Landsbank and mental health foundation Psykiatri Fonden. She is also an accomplished photographer, whose photo book “The Best Is Yet To Come” features portraits of Kate Moss and the Danish queen, and is described as “painfully beautiful” with “oceanic depths that make everything else look like puddles” by Erik Kessels, a founder of legendary Dutch advertising agency KesselsKramer. Her most recent project is a puppet comedy short film called My Baguette / Your Baguette, a satire about sexism in the advertising industry shot during lock-down. It’s voiced by Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) and Andre Royo (Bubbles from The Wire), and slated for release later this year.

Ada did not take the traditional route to directing, attending film or advertising school, but instead got her education living in different cities, traveling and meeting all sorts of people. Stops along the way have been in New York, where she landed a job when she was in her 20s assisting famed photographer Terry Richardson, then rode cross country on motorcycles with her camera and her boyfriend; in London, in her free-spirited, squat-hopping youth; and in rural Canada where she once lived in a town of 3,000 people and went to rodeos every weekend for a year. She holds the distinction of being the first female filmmaker signed to production company Bacon in her hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark.