2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

An ode to Lebanon’s youth. The manifesto script is inspired by both the frustration and the hope of Lebanese 18 to 24 year olds. Being the 90’s post-war generation, these young people are the fruit of many years of obedience, to parent and society rules and expectations, uneasy to follow given Lebanon’s corrupt situation. The film begins by showing the childhood journey of the Lebanese youth, the things they had to go through, leading up to them revealing the change they want to create, by simply being given the freedom to create who they are. While they cite “History doesn’t have to repeat itself”, a group of young people stands on Lebanon’s most toxic sight, the trash mountain, the result of the old generation’s incompetence and corruption, which happens to be the only sight of Beirut’s full skyline.

Creative Execution

The script narrates the emotional growing-up journey of the Lebanese youth, and was translated visually by insightful scenes that every Lebanese in the target audience could relate to. The cast looks “real”, contrary to the polished-looking casts usually featured in ads. The film is a continuous coherent story, even though different individuals act in each vignette. The handheld camera movement was chosen as a style for the whole ad, giving it a ‘real-feel’ and allowing the spectators to get closer and feel included in the action and emotion. The film begins as a ‘walk down memory lane’ through the childhood ages of today’s Lebanese youth. At the turning point of the script, the cast jump over their school’s fence, a symbolic act of freedom, introducing the second ‘pledge’ part of the film, with scenes inspired by the real manifestations that were led by the relentless Lebanese youth. The cast run on cliffs by the sea, swim in deep waters, and stand on one of Lebanon’s most toxic spots, “the trash mountain’, for viewers to see the only full skylines of Beirut through angles shot for the very first time in a Lebanese film.