2021 FIFA Arab Cup™
Al Bayt Stadium, Doha, Qatar
November 30th, 2021
Opening Ceremony - Sport‍
60 000
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Project development:
8 months
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In April 2021 we were contacted byAgence Publics Qatar and Katara Studios to form a working group whose goalwould be to produce a ceremony that was out of the ordinary in terms of bothform and content. This ceremony took place one year to the day before the 2022 WorldCup.

OUT OF THE ORDINARY!

While the pandemic meant that travel and social contact were heavily restricted and filling a stadium to capacity was not something that could be taken for granted, the ambition to produce a grand and different opening ceremony remained strong.

In April 2021 we were contacted by Agence Publics Qatar and Katara Studios to form a working group whose goal would be to produce a ceremony that was out of the ordinary in terms of both form and content. This ceremony took place one year to the day before the 2022 WorldCup.

Different in content: a ceremony that carries a message to the Arab world, a message of unity and tolerance embodied by unifying characters that have travelled through time Joha, the wise fool, a folklore hero of the oral tradition, accompanied by his faithful companion, the Donkey, meets two deepfakes – famous actors from the 1970s. Their adventures lead the audience to ponder the need to better live together, to accept each other and to be nourished by our differences, which, all too often, can be a source of conflict in the region.

The appearance of the celebrated singer Fairuz, also rejuvenated in the form of a deepfake, concludes this musical and quasi-theatrical epic that is at odds with the classic format of sports ceremonies.

To end the ceremony with the same wish for unity, the national anthems of the 23 countries are reinterpreted in an original composition that is all about emotion.

Different in form: the format of the ceremony was one of a kind in the realm of integrated sports ceremonies, comprising 32 minutes of entertainment between the end of the players' warm-up and kick-off.

The ceremony made clever use of cutting-edge technology and content – deepfakes, TikTok, etc – that serve to update codes in order to connect with the younger generations.

With this ceremony that paves the way for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has ramped up expectations to new heights.