The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Sitges' 'Chess' spot remakes The Birds for its 60th — Eurobest 2024 Film Grand Prix
For Sitges' 56th edition, CHINA/LLYC honored The Birds: surreal spots of everyday life under a threatening sky — 49,000+ tickets, 10,000 more than 2022
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival · CHINA part of LLYC
What it had to solve
Sitges, the world's first fantastic-film festival, needed to promote its 56th edition. The team used the 60th anniversary of Hitchcock's The Birds as the hook, framing the campaign as a tour through the places and eras touched by the film's global impact.
How it works
To promote its 56th edition, the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival anchored its entire campaign on an anniversary: 60 years since Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. CHINA part of LLYC turned that cultural moment into two short films that revisit the impact of the classic — the way it made millions around the world start looking at birds with fear.
Directed by Marc Ortiz and produced by Lee Films, 'Ajedrez' (Chess) takes place in an 80s American suburb: two men keep a game of chess — and a conversation — going without ever taking their eyes off a threat gathering in the sky. 'Pareja' (Couple) repeats the trick in Paris 1968. The surreal, deadpan tone treats the festival's own genre, fantastic cinema, as something to be celebrated with humor and period detail.
The campaign ran on TV3, in cinemas and before festival screenings, and the edition sold more than 49,000 tickets, 10,000 more than the year before. 'Ajedrez' then won the Film Grand Prix at Eurobest 2024, with Gold in Film – Screens & Events and, together with 'Pareja', Bronze in Film – Use of Humour.
Why it lands
- The anniversary gives the campaign ready-made cultural weight — every fan of The Birds already understands the joke before the spot begins.
- The surreal premise (normal conversation under an imminent sky-threat) is instantly readable and very shareable.
- Setting the two spots in 1980s America and 1968 Paris makes the homage feel like a tour through the film's six decades of influence.
- It markets a cinema festival with cinema itself: the promotion is crafted like festival programming, matching the brand.
- The ticket jump (49,000+, 10,000 more than the prior year) shows the idea worked commercially, not just critically.
What it did
The 56th edition sold more than 49,000 tickets — 10,000 more than the previous year. 'Ajedrez' won the Eurobest 2024 Film Grand Prix plus Gold in Film – Screens & Events; with 'Pareja' it took Bronze in Film – Use of Humour, and the pair added metals at FIAP and El Ojo de Iberoamérica.
What you can take
Anniversaries of beloved culture give a small campaign outsized gravity: honor a classic's meaning instead of inventing a story — the homage itself becomes the festival's programming.
Since then
The 56th Sitges edition ran from 5 to 15 October 2023 and sold more than 49,000 tickets, 10,000 more than the previous year. 'Ajedrez' won the Eurobest 2024 Film Grand Prix and Gold in Film – Screens & Events; with 'Pareja' it took Bronze in Film – Use of Humour, plus three metals at FIAP 2024 and a Bronze at El Ojo de Iberoamérica. The surreal homage was already a festival tradition, and the anniversary framing positioned the edition as a celebration of fantastic cinema's history.
Sources
- CHINA-part of LLYC and the Sitges Film Festival win the Grand Prix in Film at Eurobest
- Eurobest announces its Grands Prix, Special Awards and Young Creatives Competition winners for 2024
- Presentación del spot oficial del Festival de Cine de Sitges 2023
- CHINA homenajea al terror en Sitges
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card