This is the Decade
of the Independents
about the event
As brands chase originality and audiences demand authenticity, the most exciting work is coming from the independent companies.
In this high-energy session, Rochelle Palmer and Darren O’Kelly – the co-founders of Untold Studios (an independent company that went from start up to a global creative force with studios in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London and Mumbai) – share how they built a next-gen creative studio with independence at its core, and why that freedom is now the industry’s greatest competitive edge.
From breaking rules to breaking through, they’ll celebrate the pioneers who lit the spark and the new wave of start-ups rewriting the rules of creativity and technology. This talk will be a call to action for creators, makers, and visionaries who know that independence isn’t a limitation, it’s a superpower.
don’t miss out
The venue opens at 10:00 am.
Get ready for the day ahead and debrief the previous day’s sessions over a coffee with fellow delegates.
View the work shortlisted for this year’s CICLOPE Awards, ahead of the 2025 Winners being announced at the evening’s Awards Ceremony.
Categories screened in Session I:
- Styling & Costume Design
- Casting
- Production Design
- Cinematography
- New Talent in Commercials
- Direction / 60 seconds and under
As brands chase originality and audiences demand authenticity, the most exciting work is coming from the independent companies.
From breaking rules to breaking through, the co-founders of Untold Studios, Rochelle Palmer and Darren O’Kelly, will celebrate the pioneers who lit the spark and the new wave of start-ups rewriting the rules of creativity and technology. It will be a call to action for creators, makers, and visionaries who know that independence isn’t a limitation, it’s a superpower.
In the throes of the pandemic, a couple of industry unknowns thought, “Fuck it, let’s start an agency.” No money. No clients. No chance of survival. They’re still standing – thanks to stubborn grit, obsessive craft and torching every rule in the old agency-production rulebook.
Hard Work Club Co-Founder and ECD Meghan Kraemer shares the fiery mess and explosive magic of chasing your truth, finding your people and marching headstrong into the flames, together.
From Cairns to Fremantle and everywhere in between, Telstra’s award-winning ‘Better on a Better Network’ campaign had Australia covered. Cast from a wide variety of authentic personalities from across the country, each of the 26 stop-motion films focused on a specific location around the great land – and the uniquely idiosyncratic characters who live there.
Pip Smart, Revolver executive producer and partner, will join Bear Meets Eagle on Fire founder and CCO Micah Walker, for a discussion moderated by Senta Slingerland (Fala) about the creative collaboration behind this iconic campaign.
Delegates are welcome to explore the many cafes and restaurants nearby – browse a list of our recommended spots in the area.
Please note that food is not permitted at the venue.
View the work shortlisted for this year’s CICLOPE Awards, ahead of the 2025 Winners being announced at the evening’s Awards Ceremony.
Categories screened in Session II:
- Direction / 61 to 120 seconds
- Direction / over 120 seconds
The music video has always been a playground for creative risk. But in a world of algorithm-led discovery, shrinking budgets, and AI-generated everything, how do you still make something that stands out?
Expect a no-BS conversation between directors and label insiders Martín Piroyansky (Rebolucion), Theresa Adebiyi, and Keith Schofield (Caviar), about the future of the format that launched a thousand careers—and what it takes to break through today. This panel will be moderated by Rebecca Rowntree (Get Sh*t Done).
Director’s cuts have had a growing amount of control over them, from agencies requiring sign off, to the trend of clients blocking them entirely – and it represents a real threat to the core creativity that still exists in the advertising industry.
In this session, Ian Pons Jewell (ProdCo) will make the argument that the “DC” is not an indulgent extra from an obsessive auteur, but rather the upholding of a creative promise made at the very start of project.
Join us at UdK for a cocktail before the CICLOPE Awards ceremony begins.
Celebrate the commercials, music videos and short films benchmarking excellence in craft, at the 2025 CICLOPE Awards ceremony.
To round out the 2025 edition of the Festival, we invite all delegates to celebrate with the Award-winners at the official CICLOPE After Party, courtesy of 2.0 FILM.
This year’s party will be held at Studio IIII Berlin (Potsdamer Str. 96, 10785).