2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Imagine if social media existed during the most important times of history. When geniuses were creating the theories and masterpieces that shape today’s world. Would they have been able to focus? To create without being bullied or compared? Would they have been able to lead with confidence? Would we have advanced as humans the way we did? We created 3 films that travel in the past to explore this theory, all the while shedding light on the impact that social media has on our lives today. Each film portrays 1 of 3 historical geniuses: Leonardo, Mozart and Newton.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Social media can become a real addiction that can shut anyone’s potential down. Excessive use of social media can have very negative repercussions, such as low self-esteem and distraction, among other things. And Saudi Arabia uses social media excessively, to say the least. It ranks among the top countries in digital and social media consumption. Ithra, a Saudi-based cultural centre recognised how important it is to unlock the potential of each and every Saudi for a better tomorrow. It was time for Saudis to impact the world and Ithra wanted to remove any blocks or obstacles that were limiting their potential. So, it created a Digital Wellbeing Program - Called “Sync” - to overcome digital addiction.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your work

Ever since the internet was launched, Saudis have been all over it. Year after year, data came back saying that Saudis spent the highest hours online in the whole world. And these numbers just kept going up with the introduction of social media. And although this gave birth to a lot of content creators and influencers, it also exceeds by far the healthy number of hours a person is supposed to spend on social. But most importantly, the reason why Saudis used to spend so much time online was because they had nothing else to do. The Kingdom used to be boring and restrictive. But with vision 2030 and all the reforms that the Kingdom went through, Saudis had the opportunity to unlock their true potential. Social media, that was once an outlet, now could become a block. For individuals and for the nation.