Camper and Ciudad de la Luz, Europe’s most advanced film studio, have this afternoon announced the winners of their short film competition ‘A is for Action’.
The competition, which was open to students at the prestigious Alicante-based film school, has been run in parallel to Camper’s sponsorship of Emirates Team New Zealand in the forthcoming Volvo Ocean Race, which starts from the city at the end of October.
The criteria for entry was very simple: the main protagonist should be either a Camper shoe or the brand and the backdrop, the city of Alicante and the films themselves no longer than five minutes and either fictional or documentary in style.
“Camper is by its very nature a very creative brand and the opportunity for us to link up with Europe’s leading film school, is another exciting step towards further increasing our audiovisual output. And, with Ciudad de la Luz based in the host city for the start of the race, this was an opportunity too good to miss,” commented Dalia Saliamonas, Project Director for Camper in the Volvo Ocean Race.
This is the first stage of a cinematographic ‘tour’ of the world; with Camper establishing associations with leading film schools at key stopovers during the 37,000-mile round the world race.
Luis Cruz, the Director of the Cuidad de la Luz film school, stated that he was excited to be collaborating ‘with this leading international footwear brand’. He went on to say: “We also have a strong international emphasis, and despite the fact that we are a relatively new enterprise, we have already signed more than ten projects with other international organisations. This association with Camper further underlines the our joint strengths of creativity and quality, which will make this an outstanding project in its own right.”
The five-strong judging panel, that included representatives from Ciudad de la Luz, Camper and the British production company, Wing Productions, voted the following films as winners of the competition:
Overall Winner
UN ZAPATO LLAMADO CAMPER by Pepe Santatecla and Alejandro Navarro
A stop frame animation following CAMPER as he tries to buy a new pair of feet.
Judges comment: A shoe finding a foot is a fun premise and the stop motion is good and obviously a lot of effort went in to making the individual scenes.
1st Prize
TANGO by Olivia Lorot and Juan Torres
A stop frame animation of two Camper shoes dancing a tango in front of a moving backdrop of Alicante.
Judges comment: The choice of music and movement in the stop motion is really alluring. It has been well executed and the lighting and usage of stop frame is good.
2nd Prize
AVENTURA CAMPER by Anabela Medrano Heredia y Arancha Rodriguez de Segovia Sanchez de la Majestad
Two people’s journey in a race to find the Lifelovers boat at the port
Judges comment: A fun and bright movie that shows the boat and one of the only films to include the sponsorship of the Volvo Ocean Race
3rd Prize
CORRE O MUERE by Angel Gómez Hernández, Lucas Vázquez de la Vega, Raúl Mollá Marcos, Javier Flor de Lis, Javier de Juan Jerónimo and Ignacio Albeza Candela
A short horror movie where Camper shoes rescue the main protagonist.
Judges comment: The make up is amazing for a student film and the producers they must have had a LOT of fun making it!
Today six boats left the dock in Alicante to start “Leg 0”, a 360 nm race to Palma and back as the Volvo 70’s lined up for the first time ahead of the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on November 5th.
The race which will not see any points awarded, is to ensure all safety systems are in check before the teams take on the 39,000 nautical mile circumnavigation through the world’s most hostile oceans.
During the exercise the teams will need to complete several safety checks including a man-overboard drill, test their emergency steering system and storm sails.
“The qualifying race is an additional safety requirement that we decided to introduce following the 2008-09 race and it has been well received by the sailors,’’ said Jack Lloyd, Volvo Ocean Race Management.
“The aim is to ensure the safety gear, safety procedures and media equipment is tried and tested ahead of the first In-Port Race on October 29. We’ve removed certain rules like scoring, but it is the first opportunity the teams have had to sail as a complete fleet.’’
Looking back the last few weeks has been somewhat a blur.
Since arriving in Europe nearly a month ago, CAMPER has near covered half of Europe. After an amazing and humbling week in Palma where we were introduced to the heart of our amazing sponsor’s headquarters, products, philosophies and all of the amazing staff with arms truly wide open.
The purpose of the trip was to bring CAMPER home to the Real Club Nautico de Palma to Christen her and bring the race and crew to the people of Camper.
The real outcome of the trip for the entire CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand team was one of real inspiration; that everyone in Camper is behind us, supporting us and really believing that we can win the Volvo Ocean Race. And if the welcoming party was anything to go by- then I would really like to see the winning party if we do manage to win this race.
We are very privileged to have such amazing support from opposite sides of the world here in Spain and of course in New Zealand. Support that right now might be somewhat diverted to a more pressing issue – the Rugby World Cup, which is a daily topic of deep discussion and updates. Go the All Blacks!
A couple of crazy days in Barcelona was the conclusion of our PR related activities, happy to leave the short nights behind we are now on our way south to Alicante. So far on our trip we have been under our trusty Volvo engine. A maximum of four knots wind speed all day has meant a fair bit of relaxing as well as time for essential planning for the next five weeks.
“There isn’t much sailing today, which isn’t a bad thing,” said Nico. “This journey really marks the transition in our campaign of where things begin to get really serious. Once we get to Alicante it is going to be all go, all guns blazing, so to have a bit of relaxation today is most definitely a good thing.”
But it hasn’t been all fun on board, some important study of the latest Notice of Race amendments has provided fuel for some serious discussion, never an eye off the prize in this team.
Alicante here we come, to quote the Flight of the Concords- ‘Its business time.’
At six pm local time, CAMPER was officially christened in Palma, Mallorca by Maria Bover and Jordi Calafat, two of Spain’s leading youth sailors. The event was also attended José Ramón Bauzá, the President of the Balearic Islands and a large crowd of friends and supporters.
The event marks the end of a five-day stay in the European home city for the CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand team. But it also marked the start of the final six weeks to the race start in Alicante on 5th November.
“This official christening has been 18 months in the making so it is a very special moment and nice occasion. This week has been a great bonding time with our wider Camper family and it will be very sad to leave, but equally are now ready to concentrate on our final preparations before the race start,” commented CAMPER skipper, Chris Nicholson.
Tomorrow CAMPER will leave the Palma for Barcelona, where she will a highlight of the city’s weekend celebration of La Merce, the patron saint of the city. On Monday CAMPER will head to Alicante for final preparations before the race start on 5th November.
Give it up for Tony Rae – CAMPER’s rock God
Tony Rae may be the oldest member of the Volvo Ocean Race crew, but the evergreen 50-year-old rolled back the years on Monday night as he sang lead vocals for the house band at the Camper HQ party.
His rasping vocals, air guitar solos and soft-shoe shuffle – not easy to do in flip- flops – had the crowd in raptures as he blasted out his take on Elvis Presley’s ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. When I sat opposite this softly spoken Kiwi at lunch, little did I know I was in the presence of a rock God.
Rae’s dazzling performance – which many say was up there with the likes of other middle-aged exhibitionists in their pomp such as Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart – provided a fitting finale to an emotional day as the sailing team visited Camper’s offices in Inca, and were given a guided tour of the facilities.
Every employee sported a CAMPER t-shirt to create a sea of red in a massive show of support for the team that will start the Volvo Ocean Race in a little over six weeks. New Zealanders are not known for showing their emotions, but even the most hardened Kiwi crew member would have been moved by the warmth and generosity of their Spanish hosts.
The young office girls were captivated by the presence of Mike Pammenter, whose chiseled good looks made many a heart melt. One girl was outed by her work colleagues for keeping a picture of Pammenter on her desk as he walked past her during the tour. So mortified was she that she made a run for the fire exit. David Beckham, eat your heart out.
The party that followed will live long in the memory, and not just for the bad dancing. The highlight was the release of scores of red balloons. No, not a tribute to Nena’s pop classic of 1983, but a hugely symbolic gesture. The colour red dominated the skies last night, now let’s dominate the seas.
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