High Five: Lady Eleanor’s Sports Storytelling Picks
This summer, the world’s eyes turn to Paris, as a global tournament unfolds across the Place de la Concorde. Athletic heroes from across the earth will gather on Parisian soil, each with their own stories of passion, hardship and persistence. Who has the eye to share those pulsing stories as the world watches with bated breath? I’ve selected five works from directors whose films capture the physicality of a sportsman - five commercials where every frame is painted with the rush of adrenaline, the grit of perseverance, the emotion of victory. Watch these stunning stories and feel your body and soul plunge into the experience of a champion...
Rohan Blair-Mangat - 'Beats By Dre x Naomi Osaka'
Agency: Virtue Worldwide
What happens when a player fights for victory and change? What stories stretch beyond a trophy? This first spot features the first tennis player to light the Olympic cauldron, Naomi Osaka. Raising her triumphant voice in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Naomi Osaka’s story is not just one of tennis glory but a fearless fight against racial injustice. Both a groundbreaking athlete and an unrelenting advocate, Osaka’s powerful interview rings throughout her walk to the courts. Every frame of Rohan Blair-Mangat’s inspiring film renders the power of Osaka’s leadership as a player and activist.
Kacper Larski - 'Greatness Is Rare'
Agency: BBDO
To watch the Olympics is to watch a life’s work of training pay off, to watch dreams realised, to watch the greatest athletes of our time prevail. 'Greatness Is Rare' highlights Canadian stars of the Paralympic games. Wind whistles through mist-covered expanses of ice, engulfing us in the awe-inspiring grandeur of feats of athleticism. Wintry and cinematic, the echoing landscapes of Kacper Larski’s 'Greatness Is Rare' are a celebration of the extraordinary that honours the heroes of Canada’s Paralympic games.
Benjamin Sonntag - 'Run Like a Mother'
Many sports stories are also family stories. It is daughters, brothers, husbands and mothers who will take the Olympian stage and vie for worldwide glory. Benjamin Sonntag’s 'Run Like a Mother' centres the inner strength that shaped runner and mother Erica Birk Jarvis’ journey. Dipping breathtaking landscapes in the colours of each scene’s tone, Benjamin Sonntag unfolds Jarvis’ story of athleticism and motherhood. Ultimately, her victory is a triumph of spirit as well as competitive excellence.
Dawit N.M. - 'The Guilty Ones'
The Olympics gathers those instigators, revolutionaries and changemakers with the fiery tenacity for greatness. This surging, breathing ode to basketball’s rebellious writers of history opens on a symbolic yellow butterfly, fliting across the lamplight painted court. A ringing melody swells, and Stephen Curry’s lyrical narration unfolds with what is visual poetry - from the grain and grit of court footage to the heaving persistence of a young player.
Zornitsa Dimitrova - 'It All Starts in Your Head'
The most powerful sports storytelling immerses us in both the rush of endorphins and the physical strain of a body pushed to its limits, unfolding both the moments of success and failure. In 'It All Starts in Your Head', we open on the career devastating injury of Ralitsa Krusteva. This announced retirement seems to be the end. And yet, the painstaking struggle of healing is only the beginning. Zornitsa Dimitrova unfolds this inspiring tale of persistence by showing not only the dedication and passion for tennis, but also the agonising frustration and physical pain of injury and recovery. Ralitsa’s victorious journey celebrates the inner and outer strength of perseverance. I hope you’ve enjoyed this cinematic selection. I’ll leave you with a final musing: perhaps we tune in each year because the Olympics reign as both a testament to elite human physical ability, and uniting the humanity held in the stories behind every great win.
