The Mill along with AKQA and directing duo TWiN created 'Kirill's Story' for Nike, to profile Russian footballer Kirill Laptev.
Kirill comes from the korobka, which literally translates as the 'box,' the name of the small caged football courts found all around Moscow and beyond in Russia. Kirill won the Nike Chance competition, and subsequently, signed to a pro Swedish football team.
Director:
TWiN
Production Company:
Academy Films
Agency:
AKQA
Colorist Mikey Rossiter kept the grainy, gritty feel of the original footage, conserving the almost under-exposed look. To keep that natural feeling, the scenes were not matched, in order to create a tapestry of images showing the world these boys grow up in. TWiN led with their keen eye, and then collaboratively experimented and explored different ideas with Mikey.
In Moscow, walking through the door into the korobka is a sign of weakness - the real players hop over the fence, and the game rule is 'winner stays on.' Shot over three nights in Moscow and a day in Stockholm, the film acts as a call to arms for all young kids of Moscow, to prove their judges wrong, and rise up out of the korobka to become champions.
Agency: AKQA
Producer: Elin Tiberg
Creative Director: Toby Burnett
Account Director: Ross Winterflood
Production Company: Academy Films
Director: TWiN
Executive Producer: Lizie Gower
Producer: Medb Riordan
Director of Photography: Larkin Seiple
Film Service Russia: Valeria Shmakova
Editing Company: Friendshop
Editor: Tim Wilson
Colour: The Mill
Executive Producer: Cat Scott
Colourist: Mikey Rossiter
Color Producer: Heath Raymond