@MercedesBenz_SA #BOKEH Fashion Film Festival - Johannesburg

Hi Guys, 

After a breath-taking event held in Cape Town earlier this year, the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival arrived in Johannesburg for a one night only extravaganza at the Mercedes-Benz Lifestyle Centre in Bedfordview. The location was awesome as it was a AMG special dealers showroom and really loved all the latest models of cars on display. 

Invited guests braved the onset of winter and freezing temperatures to dress in their fashionable best and join celebrities, VIP’s, local and international film-makers for a sensory interactive brand experience. Each guest was chauffeur driven in the latest Mercedes-Benz models and entered an Oscar style red carpet flanked by a host of local and international media jostling for the perfect shot and interview opportunity.

The venue was transformed into a light and sound extravaganza with winning films from the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival presented on large format UHD Hisense screens. Selvin Govender, Marketing Director of Mercedes-Benz cars commented, “This is the second year in a row that we are title sponsors for this event and we are even more excited about the overall success of our brand alignment and collaboration with Adrian, his team and the fashion film genre. Fashion Films are relevant, powerful and stylish and this is exactly why we feel that this event is the perfect platform for our brand, as it definitely showcases the stylishness and elegance of our Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Naturally, we were first to embark on this alignment and as a result, the Mercedes-Benz brand in other countries are now looking to follow.”

Aidan Whytock, winner of The Mercedes-Benz Award along with the US$ 10000 prize money, thanked founder Adrian Lazarus and Mercedes-Benz for their commitment and support, and mentioned that the competition had allowed him to showcase his winning film internationally, opening doors and opportunities for himself and other entrants. His movie was simply awesome and moved the other passionate photographer to learn some of the video photography and participate next year in this contest.

The Cape Town Fashion Council were joined on the evening by some of South Africa’s top designers including Spero Villioti, Hendrik Vermeulen, and Gert-Johan Coetzee. The ever stunning MC Bailey Schneider donned an exquisite Spero Villioti Couture dress to welcome the guests and introduce proceedings. Catherine Timotei also grabbed the attention by exhibiting several original art masterpieces and Mercedes-Benz had guests drooling at an interesting showcase of their latest and greatest cars.

What started off as a dream for founder and MD, Adrian Lazarus, is now a reality. “We’re just getting bigger and better every year, and once again Johannesburg didn’t disappoint. Guests ventured out in freezing conditions tonight to join us and experience the incredible talent that this year’s Fashion Film Festival offered, and we are all delighted for the support as well as our amazing sponsors,” said Adrian. It was really freezing as the weather Gods decided to start winters on that very first evening but the warm food and drinks kept us sane. 

Sponsors of the event included: Mercedes-Benz South Africa, Hisense, Cape Town Fashion Council, Fashion-One TV, MAC cosmetics, Luxury Brands, GHD Hair care, Sunglass Hut, Monkey Shoulder, Tranquini and African Pride Hotels. Tranquini was a nice non-alcoholic drink which is catching a lot of attention and I really loved drinking the same. 

The goodies bag has awesome Mercedes Benz 8gb pendrive, Mercedes Benz Keyring along with Sunglass Hut Gift vouchers and the very first issue of BOKEH magazine which was launched recently. Overall, it was a great event with lot of great Mercedes-Benz cars, selfie stick models and live performances by entertainment singers as some models of the cars make their way into the event area. 

Cheers!!!

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
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MERCEDES-BENZ #BOKEH Fashion Film Festival, Cape Town

Hi Guys,

Elevated 2 stories up on a glittering stage overlooking a thronging crowd of over 500 Celebrities, VIP’s and Fashionistas, South African filmmaker Aidan Whytock proudly held aloft the Mercedes-Benz trophy for ‘The Choice’ as well as a cheque for US$ 10 000. It was a biggest moment of fame for him and he was elated to hear his name pronounced amongst all the valid entries for this contest.

Adrian Lazarus with actress Tarina Patel

This iconic moment was the culmination of the second annual Mercedes-Benz Bokeh South Africa International Fashion Film Festival held at the stylish 15 on Orange Hotel in the Cape Town CBD. The 2 day fashion and film extravaganza, founded and owned by film-maker Adrian Lazarus provided a focused platform for both local and international up and coming talent to showcase their fashion films and design in conjunction with pop-up retail outlets and focused industry talks. The event attracted the very best in South African fashion talent with greats such as Hendrik Vermeulen, Adriaan Kuiters and Jenevieve Lyons to name a few and each design house showcasing unique collections while some also featured fashion forward installations.

Mercedes-Benz, headline sponsor of the event holds an established international alignment with the fashion industry as a central component of their lifestyle marketing activities, and Selvin Govender, Marketing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars affirmed their commitment, “We are extremely pleased with the overwhelming success of the second Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International South African Fashion Festival. Being the title sponsor of this exciting event has created a unique interactive sensory platform for us to share our brand values and simultaneously offer the South African fashion and film industry the international recognition that they so richly deserve."

Following on from the success of the first event in 2014, the festival has again attracted the commitment of the Cape Town Fashion Council with CEO Brian Ramkilawan affirming, “The Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International South African Fashion Film Festival is now an established annual event that showcases our immense local fashion talent to the world and is contributing towards developing the fashion industry in this country.” The event also attracted other premier brands including global make-up company M.A.C cosmetics, ghd stylists, Fox Box, global TV channel Fashion One TV, electronics manufacturing giant Hisense, RGBC, African Pride 15 on Orange and Protea Hotels Fire and Ice, Sunglasses Hut, Platinum Groups labels Jenni Button by Warrick Gautier and their men’s label Hilton Weiner.

Each day-event culminated with a high glamour ‘Oscar-style’ Red Carpet evening, with invited guests inspired to dress for the occasion and clearly showing that there is overwhelming support for high fashion and the fashion and film industry in Cape Town.

The sold out ensemble of celebrities, VIP’s, Movie producers, Media, Fashionistas and invited guests were calmly introduced to a daunting red carpet walk by glamorous host Bailey Schneider, whereafter local and international media took over and jostled for position to gain the ultimate image and interview. The Jonny Cooper Big Band accompanied the arrival, and played throughput the night interspersed with the musical genius of renowned international pianist, Joja Wendt accompanied by floating food, designer canapés and sparkling aperitifs.

Elihle Mnguni, Specialist Communications Manager for Mercedes-Benz cars and Leon Visser with the winner filmmaker Aidan Whytock

Natalie Becker was the charming MC on the evening, introducing each film as well as the respective producers. All the films submitted for the festival were assessed by a panel of esteemed local and international judges, with 52 finalists nominated across various categories with their films showcased over the two nights of screenings during the festival.

Winners on the night included:

Best Actress – Purgatory of Monotony - Sonja Kinski
Best Actor – 206 with David Oyelowo - Contentmode x J. Cooper
Best Hair and Make-Up - Perfidia - Raul Rosillo
Best Fashion – Etro - The Encounter - Valentina BeÃ
Best Art Direction – Risky Dancing - Kuba Lubniewski
Best Music and Sound: Love ZA Buy ZA - The good Dress - Shoestring productions
Best Cinematography – The Legend of Shalimar
Best Director – The Legend of Shalimar - Bruno Aveillan
Best Picture – Kiss of a Siren - Viktorija Pashuta & Miguel Guthier
Mercedes-Benz Award - The Choice - Aidan Whytock

The Mercedes-Benz Award and US$ 10 000 was awarded to Aidan Whytock. The award is presented in recognition of an uncompromising pursuit of quality, passionate design and creative innovation.

In conclusion, event director Adrian Lazarus said, “I am so grateful to our sponsors and partners for investing in our dream and our events team in making it a reality. Only in its second year now, the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival now comfortably shares the stage with global film festivals the likes of New York, London, Berlin, Madrid and La Jolla. It also proudly positions Cape Town as the creative fashion hub of sub-Saharan Africa.“

I am waiting for the 4th of June this year, when this event will showcase in Johannesburg. Looking forward to watch all the the nominated fashion movies and the winners thereafter.

Cheers!!!

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway  

Email - thelifesway@gmail.com   for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!

Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page 

Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in  

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Mercedes-Benz BOKEH Fashion Film Festival - Cape Town, South Africa

Hi Guys,

The Fashion Film is the hottest new marketing genre pioneered by fashion icons such as Carl Lagerfeld, Bruce Webber and David Simms. It is fast gaining traction with top fashion houses, brand and sponsors as a way of exposing their brand and new ranges to a global audience while encouraging the viewer to engage with the DNA behind the fashion label.

Founder of Africa’s Bokeh Fashion Film Festival, Adrian Lazarus has made his initial dream a reality. His first festival which was held in Cape Town last year proved to be a resounding success resulting in international acclaim and a massive submission of new entrants eager to gain access to this dynamic showcasing platform. The audience connects with the film on an emotional level, giving personal relevance to the brand and deepening the level of engagement, and it is for this reason that Mercedes-Benz has again aligned itself with the event.

“Mercedes-Benz lays great importance on the support of local and international fashion platforms and the promotion of young designers. We support various initiatives in the fashion world and we are always looking forward to seeing the latest collections from all the exciting young and established designers showing at our Fashion Weeks. As our involvement with fashion is a central component of our lifestyle marketing activities, the Mercedes-Benz brand partnership with the Bokeh Fashion Film Festival plays an important role in highlighting our presence in the world of fashion and film. Fashion and automobiles are actually quite closely linked and design and image are pivotal to the success of both automobile and fashion brands.  Our customers are highly fashionable and their automobiles are an extension of their lifestyle,” says Selvin Govender, Marketing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars.

As the creative hub of sub Saharan Africa, Cape Town is the perfect city to host Africa's Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival. The city is already a top destination for fashion shoots and a prime location for international film crews with a wealth of local talent in both the fashion and film industries. This event provides the opportunity to align these two thriving industries in the city.

Lazarus comments, “We have now created an annual event that holds its own on the international fashion film festival calendar alongside the La Jolla, Madrid, Miami, San Francisco and Berlin Fashion Film Festivals. The festivals provide a platform for both local and international up and coming talent to showcase their films on the same stage as established international brands like Chanel, Prada, Dior, Gucci, Yves St Laurent and Givenchy who have all embraced the genre and have had tremendous success with their films going viral on the internet. We have been inviting International and local film submissions and look forward to what can only be yet again an incredible platform to showcase these focused masterpieces. Films need to be edited to between 1 and 15 minutes and span the themes of fashion, beauty, chic brands and products, lifestyle and current trends.”

An international panel of experts from both the fashion and film industries will judge the submissions; these judges comprise film directors, fashion magazine editors, designers, stylists, fashion bloggers, brand managers and art directors. They will each bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise from their respective fields, ensuring all the stringent criteria are met in the judging process. The winning films in each category will then be showcased over the two Red Carpet ”Oscar Style” screenings on 27th  and 28th  March.

A pop-up retail space, this year offers the fashionistas the opportunity to purchase garments as well as meet the local and International designers personally. “Fashions films create a narrative that captures the ethos of the brands identity.” Bryan Ramkilawan: CEO Cape Town Fashion Council (CTFC). The CTFC Designer Pop-Up, which will be located in the library of the 15 on Orange Hotel, will be open from 12h00 – 17h00 and 18h00 – 20h00 on both the 27th and 28th of March.

This year the thriving festival will be held at the trendy 5 star African Pride Hotel – 15 on Orange Hotel in the heart of the Cape Town CBD. 15 on Orange is renowned for being home to international business travelers, film industry moguls and international models, with Group Marketing Manager Nicholas Barenblatt commenting, “African Pride is an urban lifestyle brand which engages with a target market ranging from millennial’s to ‘forever young’ baby boomers.  The brand has always been known for its experiential, energetic brand experience which is expressed through the service culture that the staff deliver, the food and beverage concepts, the creativity of the physical design and the social happenings that occur within the hotel spaces.  We therefore have an appreciation for the elements such as Fashion, Film, Creativity, Lifestyle and Social happenings which is expressed and celebrated by the Fashion Film Festival; hence this having good alignment with our brand.”   

“With Hisense cutting edge technology and fashionability, Bokeh Fashion Film Festival was the perfect visual platform to collaborate with. Especially with our ultra-high definition TV’s and tablets that enable 4k playback, it made perfect sense to align ourselves with this collection showcase, where fashion meets film.”
Hisense Brand Manager: Ryan Curling.

Other prestigious, high-end sponsors include global fashion news leaders – Fashion-One TV, MAC cosmetics, GHD Hair Care, Sunglass Hut and premium drinks brand - RGBC. Craig Dore’ Marketing Director RGBC comments, ”There is good synergy and alignment between the progressive art of Bokeh films and our really great brand portfolio of premium and deluxe spirits. We strive to be innovative with our marketing to ensure our brands remain relevant with consumers but we also need to engage them in non-traditional marketing channels, like at Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival”.

This festival will have a positive and far-reaching legacy. It will once again be a spectacular showcase for the South African fashion and film industries, exposing both to an international market, putting them front and center on the world stage of this emerging genre. Local and international up and coming filmmakers will receive tremendous exposure both in traditional media and on social media platforms as the hype around the festival gains digital traction. For more information on the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival go to: www.bokehfestival.co.za

Awards: The highlight of the three-day festival will be the “Oscar Style” Award ceremony. Of all the films submitted five will be nominated in each category. The categories being:
Best Hair + Make Up
Best Fashion
Best Cinematography – this year sponsored by Sunglass Hut
Best Music
Best Art Direction
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Director
Best Picture
Mercedes-Benz Star Award - Mercedes Benz, will be hosting their own special category, with details being announced on our website in the upcoming days. The winner of this category receives a cash award of US$10 000-00 from Mercedes-Benz. Selected VIP guests and celebrities have been dressed by Jenni Button and Hilton Weiner of The Platinum Group for the red carpet event.

Looking forward to the event whenever it happens in Johannesburg as launch event happened in Cape Town and I was not a part of the same. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review /sponsored posts on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com  Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page or www.photoyatra.blogspot.in  Like The Life's Way Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheLifesWay

Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival @ Johannesburg, South Africa

Hi Guys,

It was a great pleasure to receive the VIP invite to the most exclusive Fashion Film Festival sponsored by none other than Mercedes-Benz. It was a night full of luxury and awesomeness, right from the venue to the drinks and food, big screen HiSense Ultra HD LED TV's and the ultra-luxurious Mercedes Benz Cars.

Airbus Helicopter hangars at Grand Central airport never looked so beautiful ever than it was looking on that night of 4th Sep 2014. The who's who of Johannesburg were all present with donning their best dresses specially made for this celebration to fashion. All the fashionistas, designers, celebrities and VIP’s including Shashi Naidoo, Lalla Hirayama, Tarina Patel, Angela Deh, Michaella Russel and Peta Eggierth-Symes were part of this big event. The glamorous and irrepressible Bailey Schneider, dressed in stunning coral Fundudzi dress by Craig Jacobs was the host and MC of the evening.

This big night happened only because of the idea from Adrian Lazarus who not only is the Founder of the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival but totally believes in bringing the upcoming talent to reach international heights by virtue of their fashion oriented movies. 

The night surpassed the actual two day event that was held in Cape Town earlier this year where all the participating movies were showcased to reach the final top 10 winners in several categories by elite judges and experts in this industry. The award winning fashion films from the Cape Town event were screened in a half an hour visual extravaganza and I really loved all of them. With the right camera and clothing, you can create wonders and even win USD 5000 for the same to invest in more camera accessories. 

Selvin Govender, Divisional Director, Product and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars was present on this occasion and was very happy with the response from the Johannesburg elite. He mentioned, "The Fashion Film genre is a new visual phenomenon that is sweeping the fashion film industry worldwide and we feel this event is neatly aligned to our brand and our customers' lifestyle of fashion and style".

Five selected designers from the Cape Town Fashion Council had the opportunity to present their designs to the admiration of everyone present. They included Craig Jacobs, founder of the Fundudzi label; Eleni Labrou who recently unveiled her latest range at the AFI Fastrack show at Mercedes-Benz Cape Town Fashion Week; the inimitable and innovative Tzvi Karp and Joel Janse van Vuuren, who is known for his colourful, feminine creations. I saw people taking out their mobile phones to capture all the various designers dresses on display. They had a very nice way to present their dresses with models circling the whole arena and stopping for a while on a pedestal to take photographs by everyone.

The event could not have happened without the additional sponsors including Fashion-One TV, MAC cosmetics, HiSense TV, Luxury Brands, GHD Hair care, TRUTHCoffee, Ashbourne wines, Ginger Grouse, San Pelligrino, Chambourd and ProteaHotels Fire & Ice.

Finally, in the end the credits was kind of Hollywood movie or Broadway musical style as a high tempo Primi Piatti dance troupe came up with a flashmob kind of experience to turn up the heat and made ‘Work is love made visible’ a reality, by offering up piping hot pizza slices to the guests, who were delighted to oblige too. Lalla Hirayama even won the best dressed women present on the occasion and walked away with a great HiSense Phablet.

Everything in this event was well planned and coordinated to Six Sigma standards or even more.  I really loved taking photographs using my #MissionSamsung NX300 camera and models did oblige and held that pose for me to successfully take their photographs. Thanks to everyone for making me a part of this historical event and also blessing all of us with goodies bag (Glamour, GQ & Mercedes-Benz magazines, chocolate & gift vouchers) at the end of the event.

Check out my facebook album for more photographs. Follow Bokeh FFF on facebook and twitter.

Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com