2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Egyptians distrust anything that does not exist in physical form, which has hindered the growth of the fintech industry in Egypt. Having that said, this film translated their distrust, or kinks, visually. We took the saying, “seeing is believing” to a whole new level. The film is set in a busy office, one employee asks the other to run an errand at the BANK. Once the word BANK is mentioned, our hero starts to twitch introducing the visual translation of the KINK in banking. Every time the word is used, he has some sort of involuntary reflex. They all start picking on him and making jokes, entertained by the fact that he can’t stop twitching.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Out of 100 million, only 10% of the Egyptian population is banked. For many Egyptians, the idea of not paying for goods and services in cash is unthinkable. They have a growing fear of banks, and constantly feel like they’re being conned. “They feel banks are evil” and deliberately avoid using them. They typically store their cash in sock drawers or under their beds. They trust what they see and can hold more than anything. This distrust dates back to the 1990’s when high-profile investment firms went bankrupt, and this perception never changed. Egyptians love to make pun jokes and enjoy the play on words. It is the most popular form of making fun of a situation or of someone. This was used to pick on the hero of the copy, the one that has the TWITCH.

Tell the jury about the casting process.

The insight of this film is to visually translate something that usually happens in the minds of Egyptians, when a certain word is mentioned their body reacts in a certain way in response to that word. So, during our casting process we were looking for people who had the perfect combination of charisma and humor along with the ability to fake an unintentional tick. We seldom found charismatic actors but it was tricky to find people who can intentionally fake a tick that should seem out of their control.