Film Craft > Production

SHOUT

VMLY&R MEXICO, Mexico City / TELEFÓNICA / 2023

Awards:

Bronze Cannes Lions
CampaignCampaign(opens in a new tab)
Film
Demo Film
Supporting Content

Overview

Credits

Overview

Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

Javier is a famous boxer in his neighborhood, always going side by side with his older brother. His father, a famous ex-boxer, puts his hopes in his son. Javier arrives at a nightclub accompanied by his best friend "Ana" and out of nowhere a guy approaches him. At first Javier rejects him, but finally relents. A fan observes him and while Javier passionately kisses the guy, he takes a picture of him. The photo goes viral, everyone including his dad and brother find out that he is gay. His world falls apart. Everybody rejects him. The day of the fight Javier feels defeated. But his dad and brother, at the last moment, go to support him. Javier wins the fight. The broken screen of his cell phone shows the prism that forms when the glass is broken, revealing the flag of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Background:

According to Amnesty International, Mexico is the second most violent country for the LGBTQIA+ community in Latin America. And Movistar, a Telecom company committed to the LGBTQIA+ community for more than 10 years, has been concerned with generating campaigns that invite reflection and connection between people and rejecting any act of physical or verbal violence against any social group. A topic that is part of its communication key roles as a digital service provider.

Brief:

Launch a online film with a powerful message to fight against homophobia suffered by thousands of people in Mexico, which highlights the problem that exists in social media, through a Hero Online Film that captures the attention of the audience.

Objetive:

Connect with our audience and invite them to reject homophobia and draw the attention of society, as well as sports entities and specialized media (both news and sports) so that the topic is disseminated.

Tell the jury about the casting process.

The casting team was tasked with finding real characters who could play our leads and be able to tell our story. For this, they entered one of the roughest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Mexico: The Tepito neighborhood. A place famous for being the birthplace of many of the most famous boxers in Mexico. Thanks to this, it was possible to find a family of boxers where the father (a famous ex-boxer from the 70's), the protagonist and the brother are part of this sport, as well as the coach who appears in our film. A search that was carried out in the most emblematic gyms of that neighborhood. As a result, we obtained a realistic interpretation that also pushed the homophobia of the same protagonists to the limit as they were real boxers.

Is there any cultural context that would help the jury understand how this work was perceived by people in the country where it ran?

In Mexico, talking about homosexuals, lesbians or the LGBTQIA+ community in sports like boxing is a taboo that can generate a lot of hatred, rejection and even violence. Boxers are a symbol of masculinity and it is unthinkable that an athlete in such an important sport that has given Mexico so many world titles could be homosexual. A very specific reality of Mexico.

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