2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

In 2020, Zain Saudi Arabia filmed a film that was never shot, using real people in their homes, shooting themselves. Lockdown meant we could not shoot our yearly Ramadan musical film that is meant to uplift, so instead we got our customers to shoot themselves, with their phones, and sing on a song composed by us, in their houses, in their pajamas. Introducing the Zain pajama song. We could not get a director so we let people direct themselves. We could not get a singer so we let people do some genuine singing. We could not go into people’s home so we let each person shoot from within. We relinquished complete production control to the people. Cameras: 43 Phone cameras. Location: 43 real homes. Director: The people. Singer: the people. Wardrobe: Pajamas.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

The people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were experiencing lockdown fatigue. And the loneliness and depression peaked because Ramadan was approaching. Ramadan is a time spent with family and 2020 would be the first Ramadan for many without family or a big gathering, because they couldn’t even take internal flights to get together.

Tell the jury about the casting process.

We casted real people in their homes. And we conducted the casting online. And since the film was going to be shot on their phones, we insisted that they do the casting interviews from their homes. From there on, we had to look for people that are naturally genuine and charismatic and would do well in a natural video context.