th1ng Details Horrors of Torture in Harrowing Amnesty International Spot

Celebrated th1ng director/animator Sylvain Chomet recently teamed with non-governmental human rights organization Amnesty International and ad agency 72andSunny in the Netherlands to create a harrowing and brutally honest depiction of the sheer savagery of torture. The three-time Oscar nominee (The Triplets of Belleville, L'Illusionniste and The Old Lady and the Pigeons), BAFTA and César award winner used a blend of live action, Claymation, and stop motion animation to emphatically accentuate the fact that “torture isn’t history, yet.” 

Backed by a somber voiceover reading of Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska’s poem “Nothing Has Changed,” the spot opens on a formless mass in a room illuminated by a single lightbulb. As the poem and spot progress, an ominous figure employs a variety of horrific torture techniques on the mass, each of which gradually returns the amorphous blob to a more human form. This reverse effect viscerally reveals both the physical and emotional damage incurred by torture.

The spot was created to support the launch of Amnesty International’s new global campaign “Stop Torture." For more information on the global campaign visit www.amnesty.org/stoptorture