The International Festival of Creativity, also known as Cannes Lions, is the world’s leading celebration of creativity in communications.
Founded in 1954, the festival takes place every June in Cannes, France, when thousands of members of the global creative communications industries come together to be inspired and educated in this seaside town.
This year, the festival celebrated its 60th anniversary – reaching older person status! HelpAge International was invited to take part in the festival’s film competition for young creatives.
Inspiring young people to take action on ageing
HelpAge’s challenge was to inspire today’s youth into becoming campaigners to end age discrimination and fight for older people’s rights. I was there to document the entire event. Watch my introduction to the festival below and check out the rest of my video blogs from Cannes on HelpAge’s YouTube channel.
This year about 40 teams from across the world were asked to create a film that would change people’s perceptions and to help young people understand that older people are fighting for a better older age – not just for themselves but for everyone, including today’s young people who will themselves be old in 2050.
Anyone now over the age of 23 will be an older person in 2050 – and this included most of the competitors. The Young Lions Film Competition was judged by the same jury which decided the international winners in the film category of this year’s Cannes Lions Awards.
Led by Sir John Hegarty, founder of the London agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the 22 members of the international jury took an hour to watch all 38 films. Once they had agreed on the winners, they announced their decision to the competitors who had assembled to hear their decision.
The young teams of creatives – all aged under 30 – had 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a commercial of up to 60 seconds in length. By the end of the festival they had slept very little and were nervous and anxious as they awaited the result.
Winner announced
The decision was announced by the jury president, Sir John Hegarty.
The winning video, produced by Spain was then screened at the awards ceremony later that evening in the Palais des Festivals and the Spanish team received their award on the stage before an audience of thousands.
HelpAge is grateful to Cannes Lions for the opportunity to take part in the festival. We’d like to offer our warmest thanks to all of the young competitors who created incredible work and offered profound insights into the process of connecting young people with the important issue of ageing.
All the videos are now being edited and collated, so keep checking our website for more information!