Singers, Rowers and Party-Goers Collide in a Colourful Animated Celebration for SNFestival 2018

Cristina Blanaru Creativity

To kick off its annual week of cultural celebrations, Athens’ Summer Nostos Festival has released a vibrant and punchy 20-second animated commercial, directed by NOMINT’s directing duo Odd Bleat.

Now in its third year, the Greek festival brings together a host of cultural acts and activities for a whole week of festivities. Free to enter for all, the cultural festival is funded by international philanthropic organisation Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Taking place 17-24th June 2018, the program is set to include sports, music, entertainment, dance, education and arts.

The brightly colored and quirky promotional film captures the entire ethos of the festival. A series of vibrant two-dimensional animations seamlessly merge into one diverse and action-packed tapestry of all that SNFestival entails. Beginning with leisurely lounging characters sipping on cocktails on a grass verge, the film acts as a moving map of the festival to follow runners and rowers as they pace through the city. The uninterrupted scene also captures revelers, history fanatics and playing children before culminating in a flyover of the music festival’s line-up.

Athens-based directing duo Odd Bleat, comprising of Yannis Zoumakis and Manos Gerogiannis, were brought on board to creatively devise the spot. On conceiving the vision for the film, Yannis Zoumakis says: “Our aim was to create a piece of work that was really unique, eye-catching and powerful, as well as showing the full range of activities that Summer Nostos Festival offers.”

A tight deadline called for an impressive turnaround by the team, Manos Gerogiannis says: “We had ten working days to complete the project including production and pre-production. Whilst it is common for timing to be a challenge in projects, the rich and detailed visuals and vast range of events meant that this was especially demanding. However, the end result is what we originally envisioned, and we and the client are really happy with it!”

The Summer Nostos Festival 2018 promotional video is available on Summer Nostos Festival’s social channels now.

Based in the heart of Shoreditch, London, animation production company NOMINT boasts a unique roster composed of commercial animating stalwarts, born-again illustrators and creative mega-minds. They also host in-house studio NOM NOM NOM fronted by co-founders Christos Lefakis and Yannis Konstantinidis

The Summer Nostos Festival (SNFestival), the great summer celebration for the entire city, which is open and free to every resident and every visitor, returns from June 17th to June 24th, 2018. The SNFestival is organized and exclusively funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

For yet another summer, the SNFestival events find an ideal venue in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). During the Festival, multiple spaces in the SNFCC, both indoors and outdoors, fill with summer moments, colors, smells and different forms of expression and creation.

Credits: 

  • Directors: Odd Bleat
  • Script/Direction/Creative Direction: Manos Gerogiannis, Yannis Zoumakis
  • Design: Yannis Zoumakis, Bali Engel, Alexandros Apostolakis, Spyros Loran
  • Cell Animation: Alexandros Apostolakis, Spyros Loran, Zoe Matzko
  • Animation: Giorgos Eleftheroglou aka Pixel Rise, Stefanos Pletsis
  • Music and Sound Design: MD Recording Studio