Chicago-based emerging cultures marketing agency Lapiz, have promoted the 2014 Chicago Latino Film Festival with a new marketing campaign entitled “All About Great Stories,” which explores the importance of a great story at the movies. This is an especially salient point in Latin America, as producers generally have less money to work with than their Hollywood counterparts so they have to forego elaborate special effects and rely more heavily on the power of the story.
"There's nothing like the Latin sense of humor to prove that it doesn't take much to entertain someone." Laurence Klinger, Chief Creative Officer of Lapiz
The Festival (and the campaign) aims to underline the continuing rise in influence of the Latin American film industry on the international film community, and it will give Chicago's resident movie-buffs a chance to see films from Latin America that they would otherwise never get a chance to see. Fabio Seidl, the executive creative director at Lapiz, believes that their campaign is more than just an “Invitation to the movies,” and instead aims to show “A point of view about what really matters in the cinema industry: the stories." The campaign takes a humorous approach, because as Laurence Klinger, Chief Creative Officer of Lapiz says, "There's nothing like the Latin sense of humor to prove that it doesn't take much to entertain someone."
The agency has created two fims to promote the campaign. “Swine Love” tells the story of a pig and his farmer, who confesses his undying love to the pig, a love that society deems unnatural. The clip ends with the farmer setting the pig free and the two of them 'flying away' together. “Forever Alone Hair” meanwhile features a woman walking into a salon and being greeted by a hairdresser who introduces a dog as his cat. Both films, produced by Landia, were shot against a green screen but are completely (and purposefully) void of any special effects. This is to run home the point that movies are “Not about special effects, just special stories.” The films were both shot in Mexico by Argentinean director Karina Minujin, and will air in the cinema and online throughout the festival, which runs through to the 17th of April at AMC River East. Lapiz have also created radio spots to promote the festival.
Both films, produced by Landia, were shot against a green screen but are completely (and purposefully) void of any special effects
Lapiz is a part of the Leo Burnett Group, and was founded in 1999 with the intention of being the premier marketing agency for emerging cultures in the United States. Lapiz have more than met this goal over the past decade, winning at Cannes for 4 years in a row (from 210 to 2013) as well as being names the U.S. Hispanic Agency of the Year at last year's El Ojo Awards. Lapiz are one of the fastest-growing multicultural agencies in the world, and have tapped into their unique cultural insights for some of the world's most beloved brands, such as Kellogg's, Allstate, P&G and Fifth Third Bank, building creative messages which connect those brands with emerging cultures.
Official Chicago Latino Film Festival Website
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster who once filmed a music video in front of a green screen, it was an incredibly unnerving experience.
