When the throngs of Cannes-goers crammed into a cool dark room to watch the famed Saatchi & Saatchi New Director's showcase, they became acquainted with the humorous work of Luciano Podcaminsky. And when his featured spot, "Stairs" for Pampers picked up a Silver Lion, it seemed like this would be considered his breakout year.

But those in the know could tell you that this year's Lion was actually his fifth - his first came from a no-budget spot in 1998 that required successfully herding a dozen canines through the streets of Buenos Aires. That spot helped him graduate to mostly human protagonists and in the decade he's been directing, Podcaminsky's brand of humor just might be reaching full bloom.

Whether the humor is whimsically silent as in "Stairs" - where an infant who is chastised for attempting to climb stairs is scarred for life - or painfully on-target, as in Sprite "Wanna" - where the true intentions of a hormonally challenged teen are revealed - there's something extremely human about the compromised positions of the people in Podcaminsky's commercial work.

Now, after four years away in London, he's relocated back to his hometown of Buenos Aires to be closer to his family and friends, having recently signed with buddy Armando Bo at Rebolucion for Latin America. Even bigger news is that he's with @radical.media for the rest of the world (Piramide handles him in Spain). We caught up with Podcaminsky while he was editing his first feature, The Third Pint, and he shared his thoughts on comedy and his first commercial directing experience.

[My first] commercial was with a lot of dogs. Ten or 15 doing different things. There's a supermarket [in Argentina] called Disco. The dogs needed to go to different places all at the same time because the supermarket has different locations and the idea was to show that. I don't know how, but it turned out okay. Otherwise I would be the guy who did that dog commercial and that's it. Very few commercials from the beginning [of your career] are great.

I wanted to work in advertising as a copywriter. That was the first goal. I was with several agencies in Argentina and then I started to study cinema in school - in a way to be a better copywriter. I wanted to have more information to talk to the director. I found it really, really interesting - more than I was finding advertising at that moment. I'm not saying it's better or it's bad, but at that time I wasn't in the right agency.

Comedy works very well on people. But I don't want to be labeled in one way. If I go to a movie I prefer to see a comedy rather than a drama. It needs to be a really good script. Bad comedy is the worst to see in the world. The line is really fine. I think one of the things that always works is contrast. If you see Chaplin's films, you laugh because he's doing crazy things in a serious environment. In a factory, or places where people don't usually laugh. That's really basic.

In Sprite ["Smell" and "Wanna"] it's different because the voiceover rules [the spot]. The whole thing is really ironic. The narrator is talking in a serious way about things that are really not usually talked about. The good thing is to talk about really silly things in a very serious way. That's the contrast in that particular case.

When you go to the cinema, if something is really funny you laugh and that's it. It's not something that you need to understand or try to find a philosophical reason. It's really automatic. I realize quickly when I see an actor whether they're funny. I know a lot of directors that never go to callbacks, but I think it's good, because then it's easier in the shoot when you've taken the time in the audition. And it's cheaper.

I always try to give my point of view. Even if I work with an agency from the States. It's hard for us in Argentina to understand the American process because for me the editing is really important. There's a commercial I did in London for Danish Bacon ("Obsession") that was a good script, but the best thing was the editing and the sound. If you don't take part in that process I think it's a shame. A director can do a lot.

When I see [Danish Bacon] I feel more like I'm seeing a short film rather than a commercial. I feel real characters, real conflicts and I understand the story. It's really clear. I think most commercials today have 20 people and 20 stories. Danish Bacon has a solid background and you can see some emotion as well.

I have an internal need to do really personal projects. It's good to try to do these things apart from advertising. At the moment I'm editing a feature film. I'm using the time to try to finish before the end of the year. It's a comedy - a kind of fake documentary called The Third Pint, as in a pint of beer. It's treated like the true story of a man who becomes invisible after he drinks three pints of beer. It's a silly story, but treated in a really serious way. After the first pint he drinks he's okay, and with the second one as well. Then, with no reason, he's drinking the third pint in a pub with a lady and that's it.

I shot it in different places to take advantage of Super 8, because I was shooting the story of this man that became invisible and started to travel around the world. He got into planes for free and things like that. I did the traveling parts myself, like the camera and the lights. Then there were scenes that we shot here in Buenos Aires with a proper DP. You can spot the difference very easily. The black parts are mine.

I'm really normal. If you meet me, I have two legs, two arms. I try to treat advertising in a non-advertising form if it's possible. The first thing I see from a script is if it has a nice story. If it's only a post-production commercial, I'm not sure if I'll do it. I try to find stories and characters that are real.

@radical.media> www.radicalmedia.com
Rebolucion> www.rebolucion.com
Piramide> www.piramide.es