Arcade Content’s Kyle Lewis directed Unlimited Fight, Nike’s tribute to South Africa’s 2016 Olympic Gold medallist, Caster Semenya.
The piece salutes Caster’s will to succeed even as her legitimacy as a female athlete has been continually contested on the grounds of society’s deep-seated fear of that which is different. Caster’s courage and determination is celebrated through a montage of powerful portraits of teenage girls staring into camera while a voiceover delivers a message about society’s tendency to hold female athletes back instead of allowing them to flourish.
Creative collaboration lies at the heart of Arcade Content’s brand philosophy, as was demonstrated beautifully in Unlimited Fight. The idea for the film comes from a long journey between Nike South Africa, their agency Design Futura and Arcade’s co-founder and director Lebogang Rasethaba, who played a key role in developing the delicate tonal and conceptual foundation of the piece.
undefinedFrom there, Arcade director Kyle Lewis entered the mix to bring his stylistic and emotional sensibilities to the film, resulting in something the company is deeply proud of - a tribute to Caster that garnered over 500 000 views in the space of a weekend, with Caster herself being proud enough to share it on her social media.
Arcade’s co-founder and producer William Nicholson had the task of steering the production from start to finish within the course of five days. “It involved one night with literally no sleep as we had to accommodate both the deadline of Caster’s race on the weekend, as well as the time zone difference between ourselves and Nike’s brand managers in Abu Dhabi and Portland. We were lucky to enjoy the support and enthusiasm of our crew and suppliers, with special thanks going to the people at Deep End Post, Blade and Freq’ncy for making our insane post-production schedule work without so much as a murmur.”
Caster went on to win her race, taking a gold medal home to her country, while the film’s powerful message sparked a torrent of pride and enthusiasm across both South African and international social media platforms.
Press Release adapted for IOL