It All Begins With A Song: The Story of the Nashville Songwriter, a new documentary that takes an in-depth look at Nashville’s songwriting community, was awarded three Silver Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recently.
“This documentary portrays the strength of Nashville’s creative community and of its music brand,” said Ronnie Smith, Head of Corporate Bank, Regions Bank, and chairman of the NCVC board of directors. “No other city could capture its brand in a documentary of this caliber. It is a unique marketing tool that will prove to be effective, cost-efficient and global in its reach. It certainly goes outside the norm to market a city with a documentary, and this recognition is validation of that effort.”
The documentary film was created by the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp as a marketing tool. It was produced by the NCVC, along with John Godsey and VML, a global marketing agency. It was directed by Chusy Jardine of Plan A Films and is being shopped worldwide to major buyers.
The Cannes Lions are the most established and coveted awards for the creative and marketing communications industry, and the Festival of Creativity is held in the same southern French city that hosts the famed Cannes Film Festival.
Nashville’s songwriting documentary won Silver in the Entertainment Lions category for Cinema & Theatrical: Non-fiction Film and in the Entertainment Lions for Music for both Artist as a Brand or Cause Ambassador and Brand or Product Integration into Music Content.
The 82-minute film explores how Nashville became home to the world’s most vibrant and successful songwriting community — their creative process, their inspiration, their struggles and the impact their songs can have on everyday life.
A trailer is available for viewing at ItAllBeginsWithASong.com. The film has been under production for two years. It involved 80 interviews with songwriters and industry figures and more than 100 hours of footage. Some songwriters featured in the film include Jessi Alexander, Garth Brooks, Mac Davis, Bob DiPiero, Mikky Ekko, John Hiatt, Brett James, Claude Kelly, Shane McAnally, Keb’ Mo’, Brad Paisley and Ray Stevens.
The songwriting documentary is a follow-up to the 2013 film created by the NCVC, For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville, which chronicles the 130-year evolution of how Nashville became Music City. For the Love of Music was awarded silver and bronze lions at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the category of Branded Content & Entertainment.
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Bethany Bowman is an entertainment writer for the Tennessee Star.
