Top directors and athletes to produce "ultimate performance" films for BMW

By Mike Rowbottom

February 19 - Internationally renowned directors and athletes have been brought together by BMW to produce four inspirational short films exploring what it takes to deliver "The Ultimate Performance".

Directors Stevan Riley, Asif Kapadia, Richard de Aragüés and Yannakis Jones have joined with Rebecca Adlington, Steve Cram, Louis Smith and David Weir to create films focusing on different aspects of performance – all of which feature a BMW car.

Riley, who worked on the "No Limits" feature with double Olympic champion swimmer Adlington, has recently directed "Fire in Babylon" – the story of how the West Indies triumphed over its colonial masters through the achievements of one of the most gifted teams in sporting history.

The work featuring Cram, former world mile and 1500 metres record holder and world champion, is titled "Power, Speed and Endurance".

BAFTA-winning filmmaker Kapadia has already created a landmark sporting archive film with the life story of late Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, which was a double nominee at this week's BAFTAs.

De Aragüés, whose project with Olympic gymnastics bronze medallist Smith is called "Closer to the Edge", made his directorial debut with the documentary feature "TT3D: Closer to the Edge".

Weir, the wheelchair athlete who has won six Paralympic medals and a record five London Marathons, worked with Jones - previously a creative and director at London based advertising agency WCRS - on a feature named "Man and Machine" (pictured).


"I had to do a lot of work in my racing chair on a treadmill," Weir told insidethegames.

"But I do a lot of that anyway in my training.

"The film was looking at my racing chair as if it was a high performance car."

Products featured in the films are a BMW M3, F30 (3 series), BMW ergonomics and BMW i8.

To view the films click here.

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