Stories

Behind the craft

Behind the Idea: Patrick Milling-Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, Smuggler

We spoke to Patrick Milling-Smith, co-founder and CEO of SMUGGLER and Jury President of Production about his inspirations, predictions for the year ahead and highlights from this year’s Festival in Berlin.

Behind the craft

CICLOPE Festival 2023: The Highlights

CICLOPE 2023 is a wrap. And here’s our wrap-up video. Thank you to everyone who entered, judged, spoke, attended and sent love from afar. We are so grateful to all of you and we had so much fun in Berlin. We hope you did too. Three whole days of inspiration and craft went by in a flash.

Behind the craft

Newsflash: 2023 Festival Winners Announced

The winners of CICLOPE Festival 2023 have been announced. The biggest CICLOPE Festival to date saw attendees gather in Berlin to celebrate the power of craft in a three-day festival, culminating in the Awards Show.

Behind the craft

Newsflash: CICLOPE announces Shortlist 2023

CICLOPE Festival has announced the Shortlist selected by the Jury across 37 distinct craft and creative categories. Winners will be decided by the Jury in the final stages of judging, live in Berlin, to set the global benchmark for the world’s best-crafted creative work of the year.

Behind the craft

Newsflash: Full programme is out now

CICLOPE Festival returns to Berlin this November and has just announced its full programme and speaker line-up. Set to be bigger than ever, the evolving three day event includes talks from some of the biggest names in craft and creativity.

Behind the craft

Craft in Culture: What about the ethics of AI?

For craftspeople and creatives, whose skills have been honed carefully and exhaustively over hours, weeks, and years, AI is not the most welcome bedfellow. Recent ripples of progress have shown how AI is stepping into the creative process, transforming processes, speeding up systems and helping human creativity to scale new heights. The opportunities and implications ahead are massive, and no one knows quite what the future holds.

Behind the craft

Craft in Culture: Taboo-breaking

Taboos are those embarrassing, offensive or awkward topics which are often avoided in “polite” company, on the basis of deep-rooted and complex social and cultural norms. Even in the 21st century, it’s incredible to think that facts of life: periods, body hair, polygamy, cross-dressing, adultery and homosexuality are still so steeped in stigma.

Behind the craft

Behind the Idea: Tanja Grubner

Essity, a global, leading health and hygiene company, has been at the forefront of the taboo revolution, creating cultural change through its impeccably crafted creative campaigns, and changing advertising laws in the process.

Behind the craft

News Flash: Full jury line-up announced

This year’s CICLOPE Festival Jury is a distinguished line-up of esteemed experts from across the globe. The full Executive Jury and Presidents comprise nearly 50 industry names who will come together in Berlin to benchmark the world’s best-crafted creative work.

Behind the craft

Meet the Maker: Savanah Leaf

Olivia Atkins sat down with director Savanah Leaf to talk about how working on Earth Mama, her debut feature, served as a cathartic and educational process for her career.

Behind the craft

News Flash: CICLOPE Asia wraps-up for 2023

CICLOPE Asia, the Festival and Awards celebrating the power of craft in the Asia-Pacific region, returned to Tokyo this September for its fifth edition.

Behind the craft

Behind the Idea: Bianca Poletti

We caught up with Bianca Poletti, Director of the brilliantly funny short film, ‘Radical Honesty’. Produced by Epoch Films and Disco Pants Inc., it won Gold at the CICLOPE awards.

Behind the craft

On Craft: Expert Perspective

We sat down with Jamie Madge, co-editor of shots, to talk about his top trends, predictions and views on craft for the year ahead, from how products have been integrated into some of the most entertaining ads of 2023 to the evolution of branded content (hello Barbie!) and AI.

Behind the craft

Craft in Culture: Why craft is embracing joy

Joy and laughter are making a comeback! Why? Because the world has woken up to the fact that people need it. Think of the storming success of the very tongue in cheek Barbie and the withering wit of Succession: both have hit the zeitgeist and each have a very different version of humour. 

Behind the craft

Meet the Director: Mackenzie Sheppard

Mackenzie Sheppard is a Canadian film director, born in the UK and raised in Japan, that currently lives in Tokyo. His visual diversity and magical take on stories has received acclaim around the world.

Behind the craft

Meet the Director: Matilda Finn

An acclaimed filmmaker, photographer, and creative director, Matilda Finn (MJZ) has collaborated with artists such as The Weeknd, Jay Rock, Brodinski, and more. In this interview, she shares her thoughts on photography, inspiration and art in times of AI. 

Behind the craft

Behind the lens: Autumn Durald Arkapaw

Tune in for an exclusive interview with acclaimed cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, where she reviews her creative process and goes though some of her favorite projects.

Behind the craft

Meet the Director: Show Yanagisawa

Check out this exclusive interview with Japan-based director Show Yanagisawa where he walks us through his early years and shares insights on the most iconic works of his career.

Behind the craft

Virtual production, is it all it's cracked up to be?

Virtual production is the new industry disrupter, changing pipelines and delivery times while promising to improve sustainability efforts and reduce costs. But creatively, does it stack up?

Behind the craft

The Spotlight: Felipe Silva on the power of the Black creativity

We sat down with Gana’s CEO, Felipe Silva, to discuss his motivations for the agency’s launch and how its celebration of the Black experience and identity is setting a new standard while acknowledging the reality of Brazil’s demographic.

Behind the craft

Case Study: Ladbrokes - "Rocky, We Play Together"

Ladbrokes’ “Rocky” commercial was described as “the most ambitious character replacement in Hollywood history”. Here, the team behind it reveal the secrets that reimagined one of the most memorable film scenes of all time. 

Behind the craft

Behind the Craft: Yo Quiero Yo Puedo - “Soy Criminal”

Directors Yupi Segura and Nea Serrano (Best New Talent at CICLOPE 2022) go through the creative process behind their film Soy Criminal, and discuss the challenges of working as a duo.  

Behind the craft

Production Company of the Year: SMUGGLER

Patrick Milling-Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of SMUGGLER, chatted with us about the birth and growth of the company and some of their most recent projects.

Behind the craft

Production Company of the Year: Iconoclast

We sat down with Executive Producers Alexis Delanoue, Tim Augustin and Nicolas Blankenhorn, from Iconoclast Germany, to learn how they got to where they are and hear more about their most awarded commercials this year: Penny – “The Wish” and WhatsApp – “One”.

Behind the craft

Behind the Music Video: Dom Dolla ft. Mansionair - “Strangers”

Watch director Emilie Badenhorst discuss the behind-the-scenes of the “Strangers” music video by Dom Dolla ft. Mansionair, winner of the Best Music Video award at CICLOPE Africa 2022.

Behind the craft

Behind the Grand Prix: Mami Wata - “Luck Is Alive”

Mami Wata’s “Luck Is Alive” won the Grand Prix at CICLOPE Africa and in this exclusive interview with director Paul Ward we get an insight into the surreal and breathtaking world he created for this project.