2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

This film is not your everyday festival film because AlUla is not your everyday festival site. AlUla is a magical place, where everything is happening right now. The objective of this film is to showcase it in a bold, epic way. The realism gives the film real depth and detail. But mainly, it gave us room to develop a powerful aspirational piece reflecting the essence of AlUla. The film follows a mysterious woman who finds a random piano at AlUla, she forgets about her friends and starts playing, random keys, that turn out to become a symphony. And that symphony continues across different places by different people. The woman, transitions, graphics, all move to a special rendition of Beethoven’s Für Elise. Specially recomposed to celebrate every unique emotion and sensation at AlUla. This film is a poetic symphony brought to life, worthy of a UNESCO world heritage site.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

AlUla is the gem and pride of Saudi Arabia. It’s a UNESCO heritage site. People travel from all over the world and the Kingdom to immerse in its heritage. That also means that AlUla is perceived more as a cultural destination and less as a festival destination. To activate the festival season, and cut through the local and international competition, we needed to position festivals at AlUla to be as unique as AlUla is. So, we set off to show how a festival at AlUla is not to be missed, because it is unlike any other festival. And our film made its cultural imprint: 101,208,849 Impressions 34,003,359 Views 1,436,600 Clicks 829,517 Engagements Featured on more than 1443 media channels and publications Brand Awareness increased from 54% to 66% in KSA Brand Consideration from 33% to 44% in KSA Website data proved travelers were getting more interested in the destination

Tell the jury anything relevant about the direction. Do not name the director.

We were not directing a film. We were directing a symphony. To achieve that epic-ness and magic, the director focused on four fundamental elements that made this film the artistic piece it is: 1) Essence: capturing the soul and essence of alUla was the first element. 2) Aesthetics: Paying tribute to the aesthetic aspect ofAlUla, which is unmatched in the world. 3) Storytelling: Achieve a coherent, dynamic, inspirational structure, rhythm and a common thread between the different sequences of the visual symphony. 4) Musicality: make sure the film moves to the rendition of Für Elise that was composed. When all these elements came together it resulted in an effective poetic visual experience that is both inspiring and impressive and creates a film that connects to the audience through sensations and emotions in a deep level.