Cannes Lion looks back at a moment that moved the world

As Cannes Lions opens for submissions, the festival organisers are taking the Cannes community through moments that moved the world. The core of the campaign is to take a deeper look at the real stories and key moments that led to Lion-winning work that pushed society, business and creativity forward; hopefully encouraging creatives around the globe to submit their work.

This week, Cannes featured the work by an independent production agency based in Mumbai, Offroad Films. The short film One in a Million #touchofcare was created in partnership with Procter & Gamble for Vicks and is a truly moving piece of work that not only had a profound impact on the world but earned Offroad Films their first ever Lion (Bronze) in 2019.

The film revolves around Nisha Lobo who lives with a rare genetic skin disorder, lamellar ichthyosis.

The guiding process for the film was “uncompromising authenticity” and after casting for 2 months, the director, Neeraj Ghaywan was convinced that only Nisha could play herself, for only she could do justice to such a complex and immensely personal story.

The next part of the process was to cast a “non-actor”, real-life orphan for the role of the 4-year-old Nisha. The chosen girl had a similar life-story and an innate sense of curiosity and vulnerability, crucial to the role.

For Nisha’s parents, the process was to cast theatre actors, who had considered adopting children themselves. The auditions were conducted inside an orphanage and in solitary spaces, wherein they were asked to interpret “wordless scenes” of being parents to a child with a disability. The shortlisted actors were then finally ‘observed’ interacting with Nisha and the decision on who to cast was made by the director and Nisha jointly.

Watch the the full shot-firm that moved the world here:

Earlier this year, Cannes Lions confirmed that the Cannes Lions Awards will take place as usual during the third week of June 2021 and since last year’s awards was postponed, the juries will be judging both years’ of work and awarding Lions for 2020 and 2021.

“For more than 65 years Cannes Lions has set the benchmark for great creative work and after the disappointment of postponing the 2020 Lions awards, we look forward to presenting the work to the Juries in June,” said Lions Managing Director, Simon Cook.

“We’ve been delighted by the diverse spread of work that has emerged in our regional awards – Eurobest, Dubai Lynx and Spikes Asia – and we look forward to being inspired by the work that will set the global standard across two years at Cannes Lions.”

The plan is to judge and present the work in person in Cannes, France, during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which is now open for delegate registrations.

“While travel is currently constrained, the availability of multiple vaccines offers hope that we can be together in June, even if we need to limit the numbers of delegates who can safely attend,” said Lions Chairman, Phillip Thomas.

“We will continue to carefully monitor the situation, and maintain our regular communications with the authorities in France, but there are many other large international events planned for the same timeline, and it’s clear from talking to the global industry that everybody is very keen to come together again.”