This lovely film celebrating the “Soul” of the Leica M Monochrom won five awards at Cannes

 

 

This captivating little film (embedded below) is not an official Leica advertisement for the M Monochrom camera but that didn't stop it from winning five awards at the recent Cannes Lions Festival. Titled Alma ("Soul"), the Brazilian movie was made independently by Sentimental Filme in conjunction with the FNazca/Saatchi & Saatchi agency. The movie, directed by Vellas, was created to help launch the M Monochrom black-and-white shooting digital rangefinder at the Leica Store in São Paulo, Brazil, but it has since taken on a viral life of its own.

The Cannes Lions Festival, unlike the the better known Cannes International Film Festival, celebrates the world of advertising. Alma captured the Golden Lion for Cinematography, the Silver Lion for Direction and two Bronze Lions for Editing and Art Direction, in the Craft category. In the more fiercely contested Film category, Alma won the Silver Lion in the Retail Stores segment.

Alma is a wonderful, black-and-white movie, which neatly summarizes the romance and danger that some photographers still associate with Leica cameras. Love, war, mortality, and, of course, photography all play a big part in the film, which clocks in at just over a minute and half in length.

"It is like a dream come true: it's a huge thrill to win all these awards at Cannes, one of the most important festivals for the sector," the director Vellas said. "Alma is a dense film, longer than traditional advertising, in black and white and, moreover, it does not have a happy ending."

(Via Leica Rumors)