‘I was paralysed’: Revolver boss reflects on winning Palme d’Or
Revolver’s co-owner and MD, Michael Ritchie, reflects with Mumbrella on winning the prestigious Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last week.
Marking Australia’s first-ever win of the award in the festival’s history, Revolver won for work that included Telstra’s ‘Better on a Better Network’ (which it made alongside Bear Meets Eagle on Fire). The Telstra campaign also won the Film Craft Grand Prix earlier in the week.
Ritchie told Mumbrella that while the production company had always aspired to win such an accolade, realistically he never thought it possible.
“It was something we always aimed to do, to be in the position where you can have an impact on film, film craft, and the idea of articulating brands through film at the highest possible level,” he said. “So when I got the call from Simon Cook, the CEO of Cannes Lions, I was absolutely paralysed. It was really overwhelming.”
Revolver has long been vocal about craft in film, especially in recent years as consumer attention spans diminish, and AI continues to challenge creativity. Ritchie said he is thankful to have clients and agency partners that agree, and are willing to “push this vision”.
“Without them having that vision, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” he said. “The idea that film has power is really important at the moment … the fact that heavily crafted film actually holds eyeballs longer is not lost on everyone.”
Ritchie said this win also marks a significant moment for the wider Australian production industry.
“For little Australia to be beating the volume and power of the American companies, for example, the fact that we were able to do that from down here is really great for our industry,” he told Mumbrella.
“All the clichés are real — it’s an honour, it’s humbling. But now we have to focus on what we do from here, make sure this isn’t lost in the scheme of things.”
He said he hopes it showcases that Australian companies are capable of doing “world-class work”.
“We want to make sure we really double down on the fact that this has been done, and I hope it brings hope to other companies to aim for the same moving forward.”
Michael Ritchie
Revolver also won the Film Grand Prix for director Steve Rogers’ ‘Considering What?’, a spot based on Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games. This is the second year in a row Revolver has won both the Film and Film Craft Grand Prix.
Overall, the production house brought home five Gold, four Silver, and seven Bronze Lions across the Film and Film Craft categories.
The festival also wrapped up with another Grand Prix win for fellow production house Finch, for its work with Motion Sickness Auckland for the New Zealand Herpes Foundation. Earlier in the week, it won the Lions Health and United Nations Grand Prix for Good. The campaign earned a total of six Lions.
In the Young Lions competitions, Google Australia’s Keira Spencer and Jenney Kim won a Silver Lion in the Marketers category; while M+C Saatchi’s Amy Morrison and Laura Murphy took home Bronze in the Digital category.
Australia also secured two Young Lions shortlists — Elizabeth Nan Tie and Tayla Orr from Nine in Media and Cocogun’s Loz Maneschi and Lewis Clark in Film.
Bear Meets Eagle on Fire was also named the Independent Agency of the Year – Craft.
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
Got a tip?
Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
Linkedin
Have your say