A woman in a wheelchair writes a letter and then makes a difficult commute to a destination not yet known to us. Her voiceover reads what she’s written as we see the envelope is addressed to the President of her country. She asks that everything possible be done to make South Africa accessible to all–at which point we see her wheelchair encounter a difficult step. The camera reveals an enormous flight of steps that she will need to clear in order to deliver her letter.
Lee Doig of Let it Rain Films, Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa, directed this PSA for Ogilvy Cape Town.
Sam Kelly, producer at Let it Rain Films, related, “Making this PSA was a very humbling experience for us. We often use the metaphor ‘to walk in someone else’s shoes.’ Well this very brave lady, Christabella Zenzile, cannot walk — she is in a wheelchair — but spending a few days with her made us count our blessings tenfold and get the smallest taste of what living with a disability is all about. There is just so much we don’t know about and so much we all need to bring into our awareness to make South Africa more accessible to all.”
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More