The countdown to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has begun . . . and South Africa’s Cinemark Young Lions’ winners are ready to roar at the festival! In its 64th year, the event takes place between 17-24 June in Cannes, France.
This year, Cinemark is sponsoring the Film category of the competition and will fly the winning team to Cannes, courtesy of Air France, to attend the festival and compete in the global Cannes Young Lions competition.
The festival will see a diverse community of communications, marketing, entertainment, design and tech talent from 90+ countries worldwide come together to learn, network and celebrate.
Local winners of South African Cinemark Young Lions, Amri Botha and Carina Coetzee, from Cape Town-based agency, Ninety9cents, won over the judges with their 60-second commercial focused on cyber-bullying — beating 40 other teams. The creative pair produced the commercial from brief to concept, to shooting, editing and final production within 48 hours. And they must do it all again at the Cannes Young Lions competition in France.
The Film Lions celebrate the creativity of the moving image, so Amri and Carina will need to demonstrate brilliant brand storytelling intended for the silver screen or TV. They will be judged predominantly on idea and execution.
Amri and Carina couldn’t contain their excitement about their upcoming trip to the festival, dubbed “the Oscars of the global advertising and creative industry”.
They thanked Cinemark for “the opportunity of a lifetime”.
“We can’t believe this is finally happening! Going to Cannes is a dream come true and we want to make South Africa proud! We are ready to roar to victory!” they said.
This year, more brand leaders are expected to come to the festival than ever before — along with the world’s most innovative tech companies and start-ups, as well as creative people from all walks of life.
Some of the Cannes Lions 2017 speakers that are at the top of their fields include; Halle Berry – Academy Award-winning actress, philanthropist, Gabourery Sidibe – actress, director and author, Helen Mirren – Oscar winning actress and Alicia Silverstone – actress and co-star of ‘American Woman”.
“This is a life-changing experience and an overload of all things creative. We are 100% behind Amri and Carina,” said Motheo Matsau, Chief of Marketing and Sales at Ster-Kinekor Theatres. “We look forward to following their first Cannes journey with them. We know they will do their very best to make us proud. After all, Lions belong in Africa.”
