Mini Documentaries Follow ZDF's Foreign Correspondents Around the World

Directing duo The Dons deliver a visually stunning and deeply emotive three part statement campaign for German public-service television broadcaster ZDF about their foreign correspondents for the Middle East, Central Africa and the United Kingdom & Ireland

Together with ZDF's Thomas Grimm and Sabine Ramseger-Kurz and Soup Film producer Martin Richter, The Dons, consisting of Oliver Waldhauer and Jörg Offer, spent seven months developing and researching the ideas for the three 60-second long TVCs.

After over a month of shooting documentary style in five countries with only a five person crew, the result is three very individual films, offering a vibrant glimpse into the intense work lives of Uli Gack, foreign correspondent in Cairo, Egypt; Diana Zimmermann, foreign correspondent in London, UK; and Timm Kröger, foreign correspondent in Nairobi, Kenya.

Throughout the films the correspondents give their personal take on their job, its challenges, opportunities and responsibilities in a voice over, while the visuals show them moving through various locations. From the ruins in Mosul, Iraq, to a school in a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya or a soup kitchen in Blackpool, UK, each location stands for a different aspects of the reporter's work, capturing the colours, texture and atmosphere of each region in quick silhouettes.

The shoot, consisting of three 10 day long trips plus various research trips, took the small crew from 45° Celsius in the Sahara to the misty, rainy cold of the Welsh hills. They flew in a small prop airliner, landing on dusty airfields and stayed in UN refugee guest houses on the border to South Sudan. Throughout, the directors maintained a close connection their protagonists, reflected in the very personal, honest and authentic footage of the films, demonstrating the clear benefit of on the ground reporting.

A combination of powerful imagery by cinematographer Adrian Kuchenreuther, emotive storytelling and clever editing by Rain Kencana, the campaign is created to push the ZDF's international in-house news coverage and receives a broad release on TV and online.