WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, National Geographic will launch the 10 Days of Genius Film Festival, a series of short films inspired by the creativity and imagination of Albert Einstein. National Geographic partnered with creative agency Pereira & O’Dell New York to develop the concept, content and strategy behind this unique initiative, kicking off with two short films, “The Instrument” and “The Mirror,” directed by Sam Spiegel (“Kenzo World” commercial). Nat Geo has also partnered with the Tongal filmmaking community to develop and produce eight unique and inspiring short films that showcase the many sides of Albert Einstein’s genius.
Each original short film in the series centers around a unique Einstein quote, such as “I live my daydreams in music,” “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.”
From executive producers Academy Award winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, the latter making his scripted television directorial debut with the first episode, GENIUS stars Geoffrey Rush as elder Albert Einstein, Johnny Flynn as young Einstein and Emily Watson as Elsa Einstein. GENIUS — the network’s first scripted series — reveals how Albert became Einstein, exploring his extraordinary professional achievements along with his volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships.
“With our scripted series GENIUS, we introduced Einstein the man, not just the physicist, showcasing the man behind the mind. He was a true creative spirit with an insatiable curiosity,” said Andy Baker, SVP/global creative director, National Geographic. “The 10 Days of Genius Film Festival will celebrate Einstein’s innovativeness and hopefully inspire audiences to explore their imaginations and find their inner genius.”
“10 Days of Genius honors Albert Einstein in service of GENIUS. Everyone knew how rare this brief was, and it was exciting to explore the intersection of music and science knowing how important both were to Einstein,” said Dave Arnold, executive creative director, Pereira & O’Dell New York.
“Einstein’s creative genius helped us reimagine our world. Through our platform and creative network, we are redefining how we approach content by allowing unique and diverse talent to reimagine his famous quotes,” said James DeJulio, co-founder and chief creative officer at Tongal. “The ‘genius’ behind this campaign is that it helped us empower limitless imagination, bring opportunities to up-and-coming filmmakers and as a result tell incredible stories.”
Beginning May 30, the 10 Days of Genius Film Festival will premiere with the release of “The Instrument” and will live across National Geographic’s digital and social platforms — the GENIUS homepage, VOD, YouTube and Facebook. “The Instrument” imagines a world where music and physics are one and the same and the rules of gravity are meant to be defied.
Additional shorts include:
- “The Mirror,” a short film that questions what if all of time collapsed to an instant and how far would you dare to travel while riding a beam of light across the universe
- “When Pigs Fly,” an animated short film that challenges the hypothetical, “could fly,” and says, I’ll bet there’s at least one that can
- “Take Me Back,” in which a female physicist, drawing inspiration from Einstein's quote that “the past, present and future are an illusion,” travels back in time to stop herself from meeting her future lover
- “Movement,” in which a Taiwanese-American daughter rediscovers her father’s love for dance just after he dies and learns his signature moves as a way to remember him
- “Relativity Ramen,” which explores relativity in the most recognizable of current-day situations — waiting for a microwave timer that never seems to be done
GENIUS, which airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on National Geographic, just passed the halfway mark of the season. Over the next few weeks the series will explore Albert Einstein’s (Geoffrey Rush) later years, including his immigration to the U.S. with his second wife Elsa (Emily Watson) — which was staunchly opposed by then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (T.R. Knight) — his reluctant and remorseful involvement in the development of the atomic bomb and his attempts to reconcile with his family. The special two-part season finale will air Tuesday, June 20.
Globally, GENIUS is averaging nearly 3.5 MM viewers per episode, hitting record numbers in most key markets. National Geographic magazine’s Genius cover story is projected to sell 100K issues; that makes it above average and the third best-selling cover for FY2017 to date.
Full production credits for short films can be found at the end of the release.
About National Geographic Partners LLC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 128 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 171 countries and 45 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
About Pereira & O’Dell
Pereira & O’Dell (www.pereiraodell.com) is an award-winning advertising agency with offices in San Francisco and New York. The agency combines techniques from traditional advertising, digital, PR and design to create innovative campaigns, programs and products that are in sync with how consumers behave today. Pereira & O’Dell was named by Advertising Age as “Standout Agency of the Year,” and by Fast Company as one of the “10 Most Innovative Companies in Advertising.” Among the Pereira & O’Dell client roster are Coca-Cola, eBay, Realtor.com, Fifth Third Bank, Adobe, Timberland, National Geographic, Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Museum of Natural History, Annie’s Homegrown and Ad Council.
About Tongal
Tongal has pioneered a new model for creating content, powered by a global network of 120,000 professional creatives and a proprietary development platform. Tongal develops content strategies and produces video people want to see across every platform, including TV commercials, social and digital campaigns, and original entertainment for innovative brands like LEGO, Nestle, Mattel, NASA, Unilever, General Motors and more. The private company is headquartered in Santa Monica and is backed by Insight Venture Partners. More information can be found at www.tongal.com/business.
FULL PRODUCTION CREDITS FOR 10 DAYS OF GENIUS
“THE INSTRUMENT” CREDITS:
CLIENT: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Chief Marketing Officer: Jill
Cress
SVP/Global Creative Director: Andy Baker
Creative
Director: Tyler Korba
Senior Project Manager: Leah Wojda
AGENCY: PEREIRA & O’DELL/NY
Executive Creative Director:
Dave Arnold
Head of Production: Tennille Teague
Copywriter:
Jayson Mittman
Art Directors: Aksana Berdnikova, Gary Lee
Managing
Director: Cory Berger
Account Director: Mitch Wexler
Account
Supervisor: Rosie Boskett
PRODUCTION COMPANY: HEY WONDERFUL
Director: Sam Spiegel
Founder/Managing
Director: Michael Di Girolamo
Executive Producer: Sarah McMurray
Producer:
Angela Jones
Director of Photography: Robert Yeoman
Production Designer: Elliot
Hostetter
EDITORIAL & CONFORM: EXILE NY
Editor: Nate Gross
Assistants:
Mitch Goldberg, Stephania Dulowski, Zaldy Lopez
Producers: Melanie
Gagliano, Remy Foxx
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
MUSIC COMPANY: SQUEAK E CLEAN PRODUCTIONS
Instrument:
Creative
Director: Sam Spiegel
Composers: Sam Spiegel and Rob Barbato
Title:
I Am the Cosmos
Executive Producer: Christine Bilich
Mirror:
Creative Director: Sam Spiegel
Composers: Sam
Spiegel and Justin Hori
Title: Joy
Executive Producer:
Christine Bilich
VFX: MPC
Executive Producer: Jesse Kurnit
Executive
Producer Color: Dani Zeitlin
VFX Producer: Aiste Akelaityte
Color
Producer: Jenna Gabriel
Producer: Neela Kumuda Parankusham
Colorist: Adrian Seery
VFX Supervisor: Warren Paleos
VFX Team:
Jacob Fradkin, Mike Lombardo, Monica Manalo, Vadim
Turchin, Madeline Jackson, David Anger, Jeric Pimentel, Karen Weiss,
Mazyar Sharifian, Meghan Sesnie, Jemmy Molero, Chris Ribar, Ambalika
Nandy, Ankan Sanyal, Gowri Shankar Velusamy D, Pritesh Krishnappa
Kotian, Radhakrishna Rethinasamy, Raju Ganesh S., Shaik Abdul Rahim,
Shiny Rajan, Sravan Kumar, Srinivas Achary, Ankit Dheraj Toppo, Sindhuja
B, Sabanayagam V, Akhil K.P., Amit Shukla, Anupam Kumar, Arulanandhan,
Hemalatha T, Jose J, Joslin Job Mathew, Kishan Katrimal, Mahendra Reddy,
Maheswar Konda, Mohanakrishnan C, Muruganatham T, Naresh, Prasanth
Palaparthi, Praveenkumar Samiraj, R Vignesh, Rajesh Kumar, V Jegadeesan
TONGAL FILM CREDITS (in alphabetical order):
“Curiosity” by Sonia Megerdichian, Burbank, CA
“Falling in Love” by Maja Fernqvist, New York, NY
“Gravity vs. Love” by Joel Levinson (The Levinson Brothers) & Paul Rondeau, Dayton, Ohio
“Movement” by Tiffany Frances, New York, NY
“Pigs” by Afterman, Tsvetelina Zdraveva and Jerred North, Brooklyn, NY
“Relativity Ramen” by Federico Fracchia (Little Jerry Ideas), Buenos Aires, Argentina
“Stick With Me” by Adam Mosher (creator/writer) & Colin Graham (animation) (Oddbomb Productions), Tottenham, Ontario
“Take Me Back” by Michael A. Livingston and Amanda Dreschler (Quick Brown Fox Productions), Los Angeles, CA
