Two years ago, director Marcel Langenegger, who was then with now defunct Propaganda Films, directed "Borders," a PSA for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) out of agency Advico Young & Rubicam, Zurich, Switzerland. The spot went on to gain critical industry acclaim, including a Gold Lion at the 2001 Cannes International Advertising Festival, a Grand Award at this year’s New York Festivals and a Gold Clio from the ’02 Clio Awards.
"Borders"—which earned distinction in our The Best Work You May Never See gallery (SHOOT, 9/15/00, p. 12)—showed us stitches closing a wound in human flesh. While one might tend to turn away from such a sight, this bit of suturing instead piqued viewer curiosity. The lightning-quick scenes commanded attention. Bomb-like, muffled blasts of sound contrasted with stately and encouraging instrumental music. Through a confusion of blurred, then focused, images and jagged flashes of light, the pattern of the wound emerges. Calmly, methodically, the sewing continued, the stitches following the odd curves of the gash. Then becoming visible, faintly, on the skin were tattooed words, including "Kosovo." As the mending is concluded, the camera pulls back, revealing that the stitching mapped the borders separating Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia.
The cartography spoke volumes. The surgery helped to heal the torn borders between countries. The map sewn on its flesh-like canvas figuratively represented what Doctors Without Borders is all about. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning group, headquartered in France, provides medical care to hot spots throughout the world during times of warfare and catastrophe.
Now Langenegger, who’s with Los Angeles-based Biscuit Filmworks, has re-teamed with Advico Young & Rubicam for Doctors Without Borders. He helmed this latest job through BRW, Milan and Rome, and Chocolate Films, Zurich. Once again, the collaboration between Langenegger and Advico Young & Rubicam entails stitches—except this time the sutures aren’t closing a wound, but rather they’re being removed from a shut eyelid. As each stitch is taken out, the spot cuts to news footage-like scenes in which we see people who are in need, ravaged by war, hunger and disease in different parts of the world. This news footage was provided by Doctors Without Borders.
After the first scissors’ snip of a suture, we are taken to Burundi, where we view malnourished children, with distended stomachs. The PSA then returns to the eyelid and another stitch is removed. Next up is a scene from Angola, with tanks rolling through neighborhoods. Back to the eye, from which a third stitch is cut-just in time for us to see the blight in Chechnya. We return to the eye for snip number four, at which point the spot brings us to Sudan, where we witness hunger-stricken kids, some whose faces are covered with insects.
Finally, with all the stitches cut away, the eye fully opens. As a shot of the pupil fills the screen, a supered message simply reads, "Thanks for not looking away." The PSA concludes with a phone number and the Doctors Without Borders logo.
Entitled "Eye," this spot maintains a delicate balance. On one hand, the scenes of human suffering—and stitches being snipped—are difficult to watch. At the same time, though, the sense that the eye—our eyes—will soon be fully open builds our fascination over what’s unfolding. It also underscores that what we’re being asked to watch is important.
While we may not want to look, there’s a sense that we should and need to be paying attention.
The creative team at Advico Young & Rubicam consisted of creative director/art director Martin Spillmann, art director Denis Schwarz, copywriter Juerg Brechbuehl and producer Daniel Berther.
Chicco Mazzini and Nadia Rosasco were executive producers for BRW and Chocolate, respectively. The DP was Agostino Castiglioni.
The commercial was edited by Angela Zanini of BRW, Milan. Colorist was Adriano Meestroni of Milan-based Interactive. Other postproduction services were provided by On-Line Video, Zurich. Serving as music composer and audio mixer was Zurich-based Alex Kirschner.
Diego Guidotti was this spot’s principal actor.
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