2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The film starts with an explosion sound in the background, triggering large amounts of glass to break. The aftermath is shown with different shapes and scenes of broken glass. More glass is broken, but not by some indirect event, but rather by a person; he is using what seems to be hammers and pickaxes. When the person stops breaking the glass, the frame is zoomed out to reveal portraits of men, women, and even a little girl. While all of this is happening, there is a voice-over of a woman talking to someone, essentially telling them that “they broke everything, but the truth will never be broken”. The film then ends with text in Arabic literally translating to “It’s been a year. Time is up” followed by a date: August 4, and finally showing the campaign name #WeAreUnbreakable & MTV Lebanon logo.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

On August 4, 2020, Lebanon’s biggest port was hit by of the one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, resulting in over 200 deaths, 700 injuries, and the displacement of thousands of families. The Lebanese people were promised answers five days after the explosion. One year later, with no answers from the government, they were losing hope and going into a state of learned helplessness. While they were busy rebuilding their lives from the disaster, MTV wanted to boost their morale and sense of resilience, and do its part to call for the unaccounted truth. If over 7,000 tons of glass were shattered and the government was still silent, then we decided to break the silence by breaking even more glass. MTV created #WeAreUnbreakable – a campaign that depicted portraits of victims in shattered glass. A tribute to the people’s resilience and a loud and clear scream for truth.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

News mediums are expected to be unbiased and neutral, aiming to provide the people with information on current events. MTV Lebanon has been different since the start. It has displayed a fervent commitment to acting as the fourth power, disclosing the untold about the abuses of power and corruption. When the explosion hit, MTV Lebanon was as done with the corrupt government as the people were, even going to the extent of publicly shaming and spitting on the name of the president. A first for a news channel. They were certainly not planning on staying silent for the explosion’s first anniversary. Standing by its motto of being the ‘voice of freedom’, MTV took upon its shoulders to encourage the people of Lebanon to continue their fight for justice and the answers that they deserved. With the #WeAreUnbreakable campaign, MTV stood united with the people, saluting their spirit and demanding justice.