Ayrton Senna’s life and career, both on and off track, made him a National hero in Brazil and an example of overcoming challenges, talent and inspiration. Capturing this feeling is the essence of “The Truth In Your Eyes”, a co-creation between Asia agency and Stink Films for Senna Brands, the company responsible for perpetuating the driver’s legacy.
The short film mixes fantasy and reality to recover iconic moments of the three-time Formula 1 World Champion, and how his name still inspires contemporain pilots like Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, both featured in the film’s final scenes. The premiere takes place this week, to celebrate Ayrton Senna’s 65th birth anniversary.
With illustrations by Butcher Billy and direction by Ricardo Jones, the film revolves around the concept “Seek Your Truth” and tells Ayrton Senna’s journey in a less realistic and in a metaphorical way, as seen in the sequence depicting his rivalry with Nigel Mansell. In this scene, a lion (allusion to the British driver’s nickname) pursues Senna’s car on a racetrack. Another element that helps to give the short film its thrilling tone is the use of Senna’s own voice in the narration, with audio generated by AI.
According to Asia’s CCO, Vico Benevides, “Creating anything about a legend like Ayrton Senna is an immense responsibility. We aimed to respect his memory and appreciate the countless lessons he taught us, such as perseverance, determination, focus and discipline. Having Butcher Billy’s strokes and Jones’ direction helped us to achieve the best possible result”.
“Ayrton’s story is incredibly inspiring, and being able to tell it in a unique way aligns perfectly with what we believe in. Through animation, the Senna brand’s mission – to inspire people to push beyond their limits – expands into the realms of art and culture,” emphasizes Bianca Senna, CEO of Senna Brands and Ayrton’s niece. “During the pre-launch at CCXP Brazil, we saw how powerful this medium is in connecting with new audiences,” she concludes.
The short film was exclusively screened at the last CCXP Brazil edition and will now be available on Senna’s brand social media. Together with the animation’s launch there is a sequence of 41 unpublished posters, created based on frames from the short and alluding to Senna’s total number of victories in Formula 1. The project will now be introduced in schools and communities in Brazil.