At BBH we believe in the power difference - zagging, going against the grain, not accepting the status quo. It's how we change brands and businesses.

We've been doing it since 1982. We've made the public laugh, cry and their hearts flutter; we’ve made endlines, headlines, history, celebs and number ones in the charts - all to help our clients win at what they do.

We marked our 40th year with the launch of a global short film competition. Four filmmaking teams from four countries have been commissioned, with the aim of finding more diverse voices in film and supporting the next generation of creative talent from around the world.

The competition launched on May 4th in the UK, US, Shanghai, Singapore and Mumbai, with a brief themed around ‘Difference’. The four winners were selected in July, each receiving a budget of £20,000 to create four short films. In addition, they received a masterclass from a renowned director as well as guidance from BBH creative leaders to support the development of their vision.

The films will be premiered in London in February 2023, and then launched on the international film circuit. The four winning teams were selected from across BBH’s locations, with one winner from the UK, one from the US and two from Asia.

BBH has an iconic legacy for building up some of the best creative minds in the world. Our focus is always and relentlessly on creativity and craft, and on creating better work.

The theme was quite simply 'difference'. Film ideas could be narrative driven, documentary, hybrid or otherwise. It could be a different story, different structure, different staging, maybe a filmmaking team itself with difference at its heart. We didn’t define difference, that was for the filmakers to do with their entries.

Differently does it.

The four winning teams have been selected:

Where I Can See Them, directed by Lanre Malaolu, is a British documentary-dance hybrid short exploring the emotional and psychological effects of police officers 'Stop and Search' on black men.

Flee and Engulfed, directed by Chen Hui, is a Chinese fictional short which explores whether the politics of sameness are leading us to the destruction of the concept of difference.

OBA, directed by Femi Ladi, is an Afrofuturist fictional short; the King of Oyo has just died and the news sends global ramifications amongst the Yoruba people. Now they must choose a new king.

As For Me, directed by Guen Murroni, is a British fictional short that fights against the mainstream negative portrayal of mental health and specifically Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).