The film industry in Mexico has been growing rapidly, and though The Lift has long been dialed into the local talent and all of the production opportunities here at home, this year’s Cannes Lions Awards revealed that the rest of the world is taking notice of the incredible creativity coming out of Mexico. In an exciting follow-up to the five awards that Mexico took home from the 2019 Cannes Lions, this year, Mexican films and filmmakers were honored with a record-breaking total of nine awards.
We are excited to share this project from Publicismx, #SeguimosHablando, Directed by Karen Gómez Nava, which received seven lions – two gold, two silver, three bronze – and the Grand Prix for Good.
#SeguimosHablando presents a narrative that has been building behind the scenes with Creative Director and CCO of Publicis Mexico Diego Wallach since 2019. “This campaign started in 2019 when we partnered with the NGO Propuesta Civica and we were able to reclaim or re-activate the Twitter accounts of those who had been lost,” Diego recalled. “When the time came to think of what would be the next step, we started looking at new technologies. At that moment I travelled to Romania and I met Andrey Tyukavkin (ECD Publicis Letonia) and given his extensive knowledge with deepfake, we started to ponder how to bring back Javier Valdéz with that technology.”
The film reconstructs journalist Javier Valdéz with the help of his wife, who sought to capture his essence and bravery as well as his true likeness. With her inside knowledge of his character and mannerisms, the film was made as accurately as possible. Through the amplification provided by top journalists such as Javier Risco, Gabriela Warketin, and Carmen Aristegui, the story was able to reach a national audience and gain traction at the festival.
Watch the video below for a discussion with Diego Wallach and learn more about the intricacies of the project and its international implications.
On a final note, we want to congratulate our friends and frequent collaborators at Prettybird, Wieden + Kennedy, MJZ, Somesuch, Smuggler, O Positive, Anonymous, Iconoclast, Pulse, Chelsea, Sanctuary, and Partizan for their wins and recognitions at the festival. We look forward to all the work to come in the future!