2019 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

We follow the point-of-view of a sleeping woman. We are woken up by a strange smell. We get up from bed and open our bedroom door only to find that the entire apartment is on fire. The flames immediately draw into our bedroom. We are trapped. Desperate, we rush to open the window. We are several floors above street level, and we scream for help to people walking on the street below. In the distance we notice a tiny light. Then we realise it’s the camera flash on a mobile phone. Someone seems to be filming us. At that moment the camera flips to the POV of the person on the street. The viewer sees that he is filming the building that is on fire. He doesn’t even realise that there is a woman screaming for help. Cut to super: If it were your pain, would you share it? #PostWisely

Cultural/Context information for the jury

Fires in apartment towers are far more common in the UAE than they should be, and footage of building blazes emerge on social media every time it happens. This made the topic of fires extremely topical in our conversation about responsible social media use.

Tell the jury about the production design/art direction.

We wanted our stories to be as impactful as possible, utterly visceral and completely real. So we opted for the least amount of post-production, by capturing every visual-effect on camera. We even went as far setting an entire set on fire. To make the POV approach as realistic as possible, we developed a one-of-a-kind helmet rig capable of carrying a full-sized cinema camera. The sound design involved a multi-channel execution to deliver a fully immersive, captivating cinematic experience.