• by Larissa Faw , April 14, 2014

Leo Burnett Group's multi-cultural shop Lapiz wants movies to return to basics. Or at least refrain from overly relying on green screen special effects.

Now, the Chicago-based agency is introducing "All About Great Stories" to promote the Chicago Latino Film Festival that emphasizes how great stories matter most at the movies. Indeed, storytelling over special effects is particularly relevant in Latin America where small film budgets require powerful storytelling void of high tech special effects. 

The campaign includes two films, "Swine Love" and "Forever Alone Hair," to demonstrate the magic of storytelling through animals, including a pig in one film and a dog impersonating a cat in the other. Titles at the end of the films read, "It's not about special effects, just special stories." 

These films air in cinema and online throughout the Festival, which runs through April 17. They were shot in Mexico by Argentinean director Karina Minujin against a production green screen intentionally void of special effects to rely on the power of brilliant storytelling.

"More than a campaign to invite people to the movies, we wanted to show a point of view about what really matters in the cinema industry: the stories," said Fabio Seidl, Executive Creative Director, Lapiz.
Lapiz also created humorous radio spots to promote the Festival that features a clueless announcer talking about Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, the Aztec empire and the history of Spain. These clips run in both English and Spanish.

"There's nothing like the Latin sense of humor to prove that it doesn't take much to entertain someone," said Laurence Klinger, Chief Creative Officer, Lapiz. 

Other Lapiz clients include Allstate, Fifth Third Bank, Kellogg's, P&G and RE/MAX.