BBDO New York won agency of the year honors while Smuggler earned the production company of the year mantle, and Henry-Alex Rubin was named the year’s best director at the recently wrapped CICLOPE Festival 2017 in Berlin. All three wins were tied in large part to Sandy Hook Promise’s “Evan,” one of three pieces to earn a CICLOPE Grand Prix–directed by Rubin of Smuggler for BBDO NY.
The short film is the story of Evan, a teen counting down the days to summer break, who demonstrates his boredom by writing on a table in the school library. The next day he finds someone has responded back. While we watch Evan’s story, another darker tale is unfolding simultaneously. The other story contains warning signs that a teen may be planning a school shooting. Those signs–which initially go unnoticed even though they were right in front of us–are later called to our attention.
The other two Grand Prix winners at CICLOPE WERE Jay-Z’s “The Story of O.J.” directed by Jay-Z and Mark Romanek, produced by The Mill, and Audi’s “Enter Sandbox” directed by Kjetil Botten Skogly and produced by Media Monks.
Among other special honors, The Mill was named animation company of the year, MPC the top VFX studio, NO6 the best editing company, Ring The Alarm the outstanding music company, ArtOfficial Agency the leading sound company, and MediaMonks the digital company of the year.
More than 100 entries were awarded in different categories at CICLOE. For a full rundown of winners, click here.