MARATHON WITH NO START LINE

Bronze Spike
TitleMARATHON WITH NO START LINE
BrandAFLAC
Product / ServiceTOMOSNOTE
CategoryA09. Consumer Services / Business to Business
EntrantHAKUHODO KETTLE INC Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation HAKUHODO KETTLE INC Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation 2 HAKUHODO INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Media Placement HAKUHODO INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production AOI PRO. INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 ONGAKUSHITSU Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 3 IMAGICA CORP. Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Shota Hatanaka Hakuhodo Kettle Inc. Creative Director
Koga Shimura Hakuhodo Kettle Inc. Art Director
Shinya Ota Hakuhodo Kettle Inc. Planner
Ichiro Tamura Hakuhodo Account Director
Ryo Ota AOI Pro. Director
Orie Ichihashi Kayoko Sato Office Cinematographer
Takuya Sakimoto Freelance Lighting
Etsuko Takeuchi Takeuchi Design Land Production Designer
Mana Hisamatsu AOI Pro. Producer
Hiroto Hashimoto AOI Inc. Producer
Kazuki Nakanishi AOI Pro. Production Manager
Norihiko Maeda Freelance Editor
Yohei Takagi IMAGICA Lab Inc. Editor
Joji Kita IMAGICA Lab Inc. Editor
Setsu Fukushima Ongakushitsu Inc. Record producer
Ayako Osumi THE DIRECTORS GUILD colorist
Ayako Takagi kujira stylist
Eito Furukubo Otie Hairmake
Chika Mogi Sense Casting
Emiko Matsuoka Ohta Production Cast
Koume - nico film Cast
Akari Kinoshita Breath Cast
Fusako Urabe Ono Office Cast
Hajime Nakagaki Groove. Location coordinator
Yoshinobu Ishikawa TEN GOOD GRIP Grip

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

This is a story of cancer patients awaiting their treatment, where their emotions are illustrated as a marathon that suddenly begins with no start line. Women in different places suddenly receive a marathon bib along with their medical examination results. (The figures on their bib show the yearly number of new cancer patients in Japan) They hear a start pistol being fired, and head outside without knowing where to go. The women running in empty roads depict the loneliness of nobody understanding their pain. But as they keep running, they encounter other runners and realize they are not the only ones fighting cancer. They also see their families, doctors, friends supporting them from the roadside. This leads to the message from “tomosnote” (Aflac’s supporting community for cancer patients) that cancer treatment is not a lonely path and should be overcome together with one’s family and those in the same situation.

Cultural/Context information for the jury

Every 1 in 2 people have the chance of getting cancer, and it is now the top cause of death in Japan. According to research by National Cancer Center Japan, 75% of cancer patients feel that cancer treatment is a very lonely path and suffer from psychological stress. Aflac, a cancer insurance company took notice of this situation and developed and launched “tomosnote”, a community supporting cancer patients in September 2018. This platform allows patients that are suffering from the loneliness to connect and share their experience to relieve their troubles and worries of cancer treatment.