2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Collaboration is one of Expo’s core philosophies. And what better way to bring the theme of collaboration to life than the world’s most popular sport, football and the world’s best footballer, Lionel Messi. Steered by one of Expo’s guiding principles ‘The world is better when we act together’, we made a film that celebrates the shared love of football and its ability to make connections. We staged a world-wide game of ‘keepy-uppie’, starring Messi and featuring people around the world collaborating to keep the ball in the air. The ball was kicked off from Dubai and we watched it travel around the world, towards its final destination - a small community in Kenya, where a young team of footballers receive the ball and meet Messi in person.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

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Tell the jury anything relevant about the cinematography.

With locations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kenya, Saudi, London, Barcelona and Calcutta, we wanted to capture the flavor of the different places but keep the cinematography uniform across the entire film. Using a 21 x 9 aspect ratio we captured the panoramic scale of the project. The majority of the shots were on Steadycam, allowing us to get close to the subjects and feel part of the action. We didn’t want our scenarios to look like a film from a slick sports company, preferring to capture the reality and character of the performers.