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 about the choice of music track.

We recomposed Beethoven’s Für Elise and created a rendition magical and unique to AlUla. And there began our reimagination of an all-time classic. With such a well-known melody, Beethoven's Für Elise is instantly recognizable to everyone. To give it a unique spin, as well as denote the drama and emotion needed to complement the visual journey, the music composer determined the key moods of the film. The starting point of the rendition was the instruments featured in the film: Piano, Violin, Harp. This outlined the main instrumentation and gave strong clues and queues. With multiple scenes, each showcasing a dynamic and beautiful aspect of AlUla it allowed for a track that blurred the lines between genres. From the atmospheric, reverb-doused rabbabas and electronic pads to the full blown orchestral 'trailer style' finale, the music was able to tell the story in tandem with the visual.