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Directors Cut.

This spot is a celebration of communities around the world. It was meant to portray how unique and different we all are. But personally for me, I discovered that despite our differences and our backgrounds, we’re all truly alike. We all yearn for the same things: love, friendship, family, or something as simple as a smile. We all go through hardship and pain. And that’s why community truly matters.

This film never intended to have voice overs. But for my director’s cut I felt they would add a layer of humanity it was missing. Something to complete the story beyond just visuals. So I bought some sound gear and went out to interview more than 20 people from all sorts of backgrounds. Just finding them was a month long odyssey in itself. And it was their honest, inspiring words that brought the most meaning to this piece.

I met so many amazing and kind people who let me into their homes for these interview. I came back with hours worth of fun and vulnerable conversations that I wish I could have used, but there’s only enough space in an edit.

This director’s cut was truly a labor of love and I’m grateful for the many people who spent so many free hours to make it happen: Zoe Mougin @ Rock Paper Scissors, for the love and care on the edit, Andy Barrios at A52 on VFX and Paul Yakono on Color, Elastic on Animation, Defacto on Sound Design, and Kris Hutchinson @ Extra Extra on sourcing a portion of the cast for voice overs.

The film was shot in 4 crazy jet-lagged days. Produced by my good friend Jonathan Dawes with the help of Grace Campos, photographed by Señor Guillermo Garza, kept on schedule by 1st AD Mr. Chuck Conner, and production designed by John Hammer (LA) and Delfin Emiliano (Barca).

An interactive version of this film was made available to all 2 billion Facebook users in July 2018. Every user was able to customize and share their own version with personal photos throughout the film. Click here to watch that version.

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Director: Diego Contreras
DP: Guillermo Garza
Producer: Jonathan Dawes
Production Designer: John Hammer
Production Designer (Barcelona): Delfin Emiliano

1st AD: Chuck Conner

Production Company: RESET
Managing Director: Dave Morrison
EP: Deannie O’Neil
Prod. Supervisor: Grace Campos
Director’s Assistant: Alfonso Algara
Barcelona Service Company: 24/7
Casting: Kris Hutchinson | Extras Extras

Editor: Zoe Mougin @ Rock Paper Scissors
Colorist: Paul Yakono | A52
VFX / Animation: A52 & Elastic
VFX Supervisor: Andy Barrios

Sound Design and Mix: Defacto Sound

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For full credits see Vimeo.