2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

CAGED

Silver Lynx
BrandTAJAWAL
Product/ServiceTAJAWAL
EntrantDÈJÁVU Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryDirection
Idea Creation OMAR HILAL CREATIVE Maadi, EGYPT
Production DÈJÁVU Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Additional Company PLATIGE IMAGE Warsaw, POLAND

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Emirates constitute 20% of Dubai’s population. 80% are expats whose lives revolve around nothing but work. Though they have homes, work is where they live. Trapped in 2x2 plexiglass cubicles, chained to desks, their existence is no different than that of an animal, and their zest for life withers into a default existence. The film follows a Mandrill, a metaphor for a regular guy living in Dubai, in his life over a period of time seen at work, home, out with friends, out on dates, bowling, doing things people do but with the exception that he is burnt out and deflated. Shot in a particular style so that his surroundings act as a cage, we follow his story as he fakes a smile all along, even singing occasionally when all he really wants to do is cry and get out. Until finally, Tajawal comes to his rescue through travel.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

The idea came from a very pertinent question - why do we travel in the first place? This led to us to deep dive and understand the mindset that pushes us all to travel, especially in a competitive work environment like Dubai where work life balance is difficult to achieve. We zeroed in on a set of people that everybody can easily identify with - the workaholics who have trouble leaving their job behind, stuck in their modern day cages - their cubicles, and wanting to ‘break out’. To dramatise this point, we chose an interesting visual representation of the modern day office slave - a Mandrill, an animal with the perfect blend of familiarity, wilderness and humour.

Credits

Name Company Role
Omar Hilal Dejavu Creative
Manasvi Gosalia Dejavu Executive Producer
Kavya Iyer Dejavu Producer
Pratixa Kanojia Dejavu Head of Production
Mohamed Qanati Tajawal Head of brand
Laura Tomaszewski Tajawal Brand Manager
Yasmin Lopez Tajawal Client Producer
Dina Ayoub Tajawal Assistant Brand Manager
Serge Teloun Dejavu Director Of Photography
Georges Cassab Dejavu First Assistant Director
Charbel Naimeh Dejavu Art Director
Kurt Barretto Dejavu Production Manager
Aurimas Juodiskis Dejavu Make up
Christina Choie Dejavu Wardrobe
Chris Harker Dejavu Key Grip
Karsten Loffler Dejavu Gaffer
Mary Bou Akl Dejavu Post Production
Neda Ahmed Dejavu Offline editor
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