The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2022
Brooklyn Film Festival teaches audiences to discuss uncensored films without offence
A festival that never censors filmmakers ran annoyed-character OOH posters that led viewers to an interactive course on how to share the films considerately.
Brooklyn Film Festival
What it had to solve
Brooklyn Film Festival prides itself on never censoring its filmmakers, so its programme carries new ideas and points of view that push viewers out of their comfort zones. The festival had to encourage audiences to come open-minded and teach them how to discuss what they would see appropriately.
How it works
Brooklyn Film Festival is an independent festival that prides itself on never censoring its filmmakers. That promise means its programme deliberately carries new ideas and points of view that may sit outside a viewer's comfort zone — and may offend.
Something to Offend Everyone embraced that tension instead of apologising for it. OOH posters portrayed a series of annoyed characters reacting to what the festival might throw at them, and each poster directed viewers to HowToTalkAboutBFF.com, an interactive training course on sharing what they were about to see with the rest of the world without offending anyone.
The campaign made open-mindedness a skill to practise rather than a demand to accept. The work is preserved in the D&AD Awards Archive as a documented example of festival marketing that turns audience education into the creative itself.
Why it lands
- Admitting that the films may offend makes the festival's no-censorship promise concrete instead of abstract.
- A training course reframed the festival experience: discomfort became something to prepare for and discuss, not a reason to stay away.
- The posters did the teasing and the website did the teaching — one idea carried by two complementary mechanics.
- Teaching people how to describe challenging work gave audiences the confidence to attend and to recommend the festival afterwards.
What it did
The campaign turned the festival's no-censorship stance into an invitation: annoyed characters on the street steered viewers to an interactive course that prepared them for the programme. The work is preserved in the D&AD Awards Archive as a documented example of the campaign.
What you can take
When the product deliberately provokes, teach the audience how to talk about it: a course to attend turns provocation into something safe, wanted and worth sharing.
Since then
The campaign took the festival's positioning — never censor filmmakers — and extended it to the audience's side of the screen, preparing viewers to talk about what they saw. It was later collected into the D&AD Awards Archive, where it documents the idea that an audience can be educated as part of a festival's brand.
Sources
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