Francisco Condorelli

Next month sees the introduction of the shots-sponsored Cíclope Festival, a new International Advertising Craft event which will award those providing artistic talent for the production of advertising films. It will take place between 2-3 December, aboard a yacht in the exclusive Porto Madero district of Buenos Aires. Festival director Francisco Condorelli recently spoke to shots.net.

Tell us a bit about Cíclope?

Cíclope is something really new and fresh on the international festivals circuit. They are all based on the idea of honouring ideas, from different angles, with different points of view, but all of them are dedicated to measure the talent of agencies and it creatives.

But on the other hand, you have Ciclope, which is 100 per cent dedicated to honouring the work of production companies: directors, producers, visual effect supervisors, musicians. So the way of evaluating the work is totally different. We are taking some know-how from advertising festivals, but a lot from film festivals as well.

Personally, it is a huge challenge. We are bringing a new "product" to the international market, without any real reference, any previous experience and we are doing this from South America, which offers a different perspective of the industry. This kind of project takes time, so maybe that is the real challenge: to stay this way for a long time and maintain the level.

What can we look forward to at the event?

We are focused on one big thing; to give delegates something really fresh. Undiscovered talent, new perspectives and points of view and of course, a new spot on the map! We will be featuring unsigned directors, a special showcase with directors who have not been discovered by a production company yet.

There will be screenings with the Young Directors Awards, AICP Show. We will host seminars about digital integration, branded contents cases like Parallel Lines, the awarded short films made with RSA for Philips.

And there's also something else. We will be hosting the WPS (World Producers Summit): the international meeting for producers and owners of production companies organised by the different associations of production companies from the UK, US and Europe - a great opportunity to meet producers from all over the world.

So who's attending?

It's a very exclusive event (not more than 400 people) so everybody there is important; people such as Robin Shenfield, CEO of The Mill (UK), T.K. Knowles, CEO of Bob Industries (US), Francois Chilot, president of CFP-E (France), Andy Fogwill, director of Landia (Argentina), Mateus Santos de Paula (Brazil), Steve Davies, CEO of APA (UK), Paulo Dihl, director of Conspiracao Filmes (Brazil), and many more!

How has the preparation been going and what's been the biggest challenge?
Everything is ready. We are so anxious! I think the biggest challenge was to create a festival interesting for production companies from different parts of the world, a real global festival, far from the usual hot spots. In this first edition, we´ve received entries from Australia, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. It's been great.

What should a festival experience be about?

I think it has to be a balance between professional and personal experiences. Not different from life. I mean, most of the festivals are organized in wonderful places like Cannes, San Sebastian, New York. With so much information and activity you don´t even have enough time to enjoy the place. Twelve hours of commercials and seminars… Enough! I think the key is to find the balance between discovering something really useful for your work, and for yourself as a person at the same time.

How important is artistic talent in advertising?

If adverting is about creating value for brands, artistic talent is the most powerful tool it has. No talent equals no value. How do we measure that talent? Well, maybe that is our responsibility.

What inspires you?

Well, I think inspiration is a sort of wisdom, and it lives inside us…

How important is it to support new emerging talent in the industry?

I think it's a way of improving what we have done before. And a way to keep ourselves upgraded and young.

What's your vision for Cíclope's future?

Well, I think probably in the next five years there will be several festivals like this around the world, and Cíclope will have the responsibility of showing them the direction. The same happened with Cannes Lions. Every year they demonstrate they were the pioneers.