Wise Words
Award: Graphite Pencil
Graphite Pencil / Direction / Film Advertising / 2020
With Brexit looming, this film for Comic Relief was a timely addition to their annual telethon. A simple, hopeful monologue from a grandfather to his grandchild, ‘Wise Words’ was an unexpected direction for Comic Relief to take; A sparse, intimate film, shot on 16mm, with no music, starring the exceptional Peter Mullan. It was designed to stand amongst the comedy and cause films by turning the viewers attention on themselves, and highlighting the qualities that unite us rather than the issues that divide us. Principally that we care and the huge sums raised each year are testament to that.
What did the judges have to say?
A profound human truth packaged into a story with such finesse and effortlessness. This is another one that is so fitting to our times and that is saying something. If a message created in the context of Brexit should still feel every bit as relevant in a post-Covid era where the discourse has changed so dramatically that’s a testimony to its timelessness. The casting is brilliant. Peter Mullan’s performance and delivery is spot on. Instead of taking a maudlin, overcooked approach that charity films sometimes tend to do, this one is nuanced and subtle. By using film, natural lighting and no soundtrack the director elevates a good script into something soul-stirring and memorable.
Charu Menon, Executive Producer, Heckler
Personally, four works grab me by the collar more than others, on different levels. It's all simple ideas with perfect, simple executions, where the magic happens. Great talent makes complicated things look easy: Hope is Power for the Guardian, Wise Words for Comic Relief, Storm the Court for Reebok and The Underdogs for Apple. These works provoke intimate, related, unexpected emotions, and show great ability in creating narratives. Just perfect. You don't feel there's any extra or missing frames from the story. The craft attached to these projects attends to one of the most significant criteria for an award like D&AD. It moves the industry towards the future, where narratives will catch people's attention, as they have since stories were painted in walls and told around the fire.
Ricardo Jones, Director, Stink Films London
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