THE TOPSY FOUNDATION | SELINAH | 2010
When Playing in Reverse Becomes the Truth / THE TOPSY FOUNDATION "SELINAH"
Just playing the footage in reverse, that's it. But when I heard they kept the camera rolling every single day for 90 days to make that work, I was speechless.
The problem
In South Africa in 2010, HIV/AIDS was widely believed to be a death sentence. In reality, medicine could bring people back to health, and they could go on living. But just saying that with words, nobody believed it.
The insight
Everyone already knew what an AIDS patient wasting away looked like. So why not show recovery just as powerfully, in a way people could tell was real?
The idea
They found Selinah, a woman with advanced AIDS, started her on treatment, and filmed her every single day for 90 days. No special effects at all. They simply played the film backward. The footage appears to start healthy and grow weaker day by day, but it's actually the 90 days of her real recovery, just reversed. A song written for the piece, "Human" by Leah Siegel, adds weight to that stretch of time.
What happened
Within four weeks of release, individual donations to the Topsy Foundation rose 95%. The work also won Gold at Cannes Lions and the Grand Prix at the London International Awards.
Afterthought
I want to believe advertising can change something, and every time I watch this piece, it makes me cry. The sheer determination to keep filming every day for 90 days, and Selinah's own courage. She herself has said she wants people to know that she came back to life purely through her will to live. I have nothing but respect for everyone who worked on this.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2010
