The premiere of “Blackout,” the winning film entry to last year’s Cannes Young Lions awards was held last night in Dublin. The winning entry was created by Paul Kinsella, art director with Ogilvy and Eoin Tierney, a copywriter with Boys + Girls. It was directed by Richie Smyth of Pull the Trigger and will be distributed in Irish Cinemas by Wide Eye Media.
Attended by a gathering from the worlds of film and advertising, the premiere also saw the launch of an app version of iReport.ie for the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR). The new app will make it easier to report incidents of racism.
“The Cannes Young Lions winning cinema advert by Eoin and Paul uses real world footage of racial incident.” says Su Duff, marketing & research director with Wide Eye Media. “While the experiences are uncomfortable to watch, they are unfortunately present in Irish life. Wide Eye Media is happy to be able to support INAR in the distribution of its important message and new app launch.”
INAR coordinates a network of 102 civil society organisations in Ireland and has pioneered the iReport.ie racist incident reporting system since 2013. Since it was launched it has logged thousands of incidents of racism in Irish society and with the data gathered it has been able to develop reports and inform policy submissions to national and international reporting bodies, government and media. The App is aimed at members of minority groups who experience racism, as well as their allies and advocates, encouraging the latter to ‘speak up’ and make racism visible.
The 2019 Cannes Young Lions film competition is led by IAPI, and was sponsored by Wide Eye Media, which manages all cinema advertising across Ireland, and Pull The Trigger, the award winning commercials production company.
According to INAR Board member Claudia Hoareau: “We are very proud to launch this advertising movie, conceived by Eoin and Paul, and which very snappily captivates the importance of our message, and the resources that INAR develops for reporting and responding to racism and encouraging bystander intervention,”
Max Brady, founding partner and executive producer, Pull the Trigger adds: “Pull the Trigger are always very happy to assist social change and public awareness around issues that face Ireland as we take our place on a global stage. We are very proud to have, in some small way, contributed to the campaign against racism, to highlight that every comment, action and ‘joke’ can have a devastating effect on the recipient, and that the seemingly insignificant becomes powerful when unchallenged.”
The launch of the 2020 Cannes Young Lions competition will take place next week on January 24th in the Lighthouse Cinema . The competition is open to people under the age of 30 working in the advertising and wider marketing communications industries. Categories this year include Film, PR, Media, Print, Design, Digital and Young Marketers.
