London’s adam&eveDDB has released the next iteration of Booking.com’s “Live Curious” advertising campaign. Directed by Fredrik Bond through MJZ and shot by DP Monika Lenczewska, the new creative work captures emotional moments to celebrate the range of feelings traveling evokes in all of us–from joy and freedom to determination and wonder.
This spot titled “Freedom” centers on a young man who’s zooming about freely at a beautiful seaside resort to the beat of Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again”–the camera then reveals that he’s in a wheelchair, and that the resort is fully wheelchair accessible.
Credits
Client Booking.com Agency adam&eveDDB, London Richard Brim, chief creative officer; Laura Rogers, creative director; Genevieve De Rohan Willner, Selma Ahmed, creative team; Bex Wilson, social media director. Production MJZ Fredrik Bond, DP; Helen Kenny, exec producer; Alicia Richards, producer; Monika Lenczewska, DP; Rakhal Heijtel, Ruurd Vulink, 2nd unit camera operators. Editorial Patric Ryan, Toby Conway-Hughes, editors. Online & VFX The Ambassadors Bas Moonen, postproduction supervision & Flame; Jade Durbecker, producer; Matt Hare, grading colorist; Dave Renton, Rink Hof, motion graphics. Music The Self Same Beth Urdang, music supervisor. Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” Sound Design/Mixing Wave Randall Macdonald, sound designer; Estelle Papougnot, producer.
Dancer turned director Ezra Hurwitz collaborates with Ailey II artistic director Francesca Harper, featuring movement as museum pieces against the Whitney Museum of American Art’s striking architecture for this short film titled Echoes of Ailey. Commissioned to celebrate “Edges of Ailey” at the Whitney Museum, the film accompanies the first large-scale exhibition on the life and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey. “Edges of Ailey” is currently on view at the Whitney until February 9.
Animating iconic images from Alvin Ailey’s 20th-century repertory, the film expands on the exhibition by constructing a visual narrative around his storytelling and influences. Set to Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place,” dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School capture the emotional core of the company’s history--physically situating Ailey’s masterworks amongst the Whitney’s collection.
“As a child, my grandmother took me to Ailey’s Revelations once a year,” said Hurwitz. “No matter how often I saw it, the work captivated me. There isn’t one specific thing I hope viewers take away from the film--or one way to interpret its images. It’s meant to be an abstract work, like Ailey’s creations.”
Turning to his archive, Hurwitz and Harper illuminate key sequences symbolic of Ailey’s profound legacy, closing on an uninterrupted sequence from "I’ve Been Buked," the opening movement of Ailey’s legendary "Revelations." Carrying a watershed moment back to its own medium, Echoes of Ailey captures the multigenerational impact of Ailey’s work, continued by his organization. The short film first premiered on Nowness.
