Hasta La Creative!

Each year, one of the most heavily guarded secrets of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the opening presentation of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase. The event continues to be one of the week’s biggest draws. It plays to overflow crowds, not just because it presents the most promising directorial talent, but also for its blood-pumping live intro shows that have included such spectacles as flying robots, a hologram of the showcase’s late founder and legendary creative Paul Arden, and a sound and visual feast controlled by the mood of the audience.

But this year, to celebrate the showcase’s 25th anniversary, Saatchi has broken tradition by announcing what that opener will be prior to the big day.

Since it was introduced in 1991, the New Directors’ Showcase has introduced the ad world to many talents who have gone on to do big things in commercials and well beyond — directors Daniel Kleinman, Jonathan Glazer, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Floria Sigismondi, Dougal Wilson, Jake Scott and more. So Saatchi has tapped 25 of those directors — what Saatchi refers to as the “Illuminati” — to create a new, experimental film to open this year’s event, according to Saatchi’s Worldwide Director of Film and Content and NDS Curator Andy Gulliman.

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