Produced by Sweet Rickey and Directed by Yaara Sumeruk, PUMA’s “She Moves Us” honors Women’s History Month by celebrating the women who move together to achieve and connect through sport, culture, and values. Featuring multi-talented PUMA ambassadors, including singer Dua Lipa and an incredible roster of female athletes, the campaign highlights overcoming adversity in order to reach goals alongside an inspirational reminder to just keep moving.
“We were honored to work with the amazing team at PUMA,” comments Sweet Rickey EP Vanessa Lonborg. “Yaara's and our teams’ total commitment to the great “She Moves Us” concept made the tight timeline for an international multi-city shoot, beholden to the many celebrities' schedules (and during a covid surge around the holidays!) all still come together smoothly. True to the script, we ‘kept moving forward’! And we loved it!”
A woman-owned production company, Sweet Rickey deeply connected with the ideology of the piece and worked to deliver on that same spirit when assembling the female powered creative team. Award-winning filmmaker Yaara Sumeruk, known for directing visually striking works that shine a light on topical issues, was a natural fit for the project. Director of Photography Hillary Spera (Dexter, The Flight Attendant) was brought onboard for the global shoot — with Director of Photography Adam McDain handling the New York-side of the production. Director Sumeruk worked closely with noted Editor Britt Bellamy, of sister company EDITBAR, to seamlessly interweave the movement and message - in collaboration with visual effects artistry by Zero FX - with the powerful kinetic energy of the PUMA ambassadors.
“I got involved during pre-production so that we were all on the same page before shooting began,” shares Editor Bellamy. “Yaara had a strong creative vision and directed the multi-location shoot with an exacting eye and plan, which allowed the edit to come together fairly quickly despite the project’s scope and complexity. One of the biggest key considerations was keeping the technical aspects of the transitions in mind. Things had to line up just right for this technique to work so it was essential to make sure they were as seamless as possible while also using the best performances from the ambassadors. Sometimes a single frame made all the difference.”
“My work has focused on women for most of my career so far. So the ‘She Moves Us’ campaign felt like a culmination of where I have put my energies: how to portray women on screen in a way that is authentic, empowering, and not cliched,” concludes Director Yaara Sumeruk. “Puma was a dream to work with. They trusted me, believed in my creative ideas, and they really walk the walk. We made sure we always had a diverse crew - I believe that what’s behind the camera should reflect what’s in front of it – and I’m very proud of the crews we had all over the world. I could feel that all the ambassadors were proud to be part of the Puma family, and I was honored to be the person they chose to see this vision come to life.”
The only rule of the game:
Keep moving forward.
Don’t stand still for anyone.
Keep that forward momentum going.
Head through that next door.
And the one after that.
And the one after that.
Forward, into the future, with passion and purpose.
And in the process, move some mountains.
Move the world.
SHE MOVES US
Credits:
Puma Celebrity Ambassadors
Dua Lipa
Patricia Mamona
Olivia Amato
Breanna Stewart
Nikita Parris
Mandy Francois-Elie
Naomi Schiff
Abbi Pulling
Marlene Van Gansewinkel
Fridolina Rolfö
Ingrid Engen
Skylar Diggins Smith
Isadora Pacheco
Tisha Alyn
Molly Seidel
Puma
Creative Director, Brand Management: Josh Tetrault
Head of Production and Studio: Diane Brito
Production - Sweet Rickey
SR Executive Producers - Scott Burtnett and Vanessa Lonborg
SR Producers Tara Saxon, Willa Gold, Ignasi Vargas
SR Director Yaara Sumeruk
Cinematographer: Hillary Spera and Adam McDaid
Editorial: EDITBAR
Editors: Britt Bellamy
Assistant Editors: Ryan Cotrupi Adam Barlyn
Executive Producer: Phoebe Cole DuBay
Post Producer: Kat Hardman
Color: Nice Shoes
NS Colorist: Phil Choe
NS Executive Producer: Tara Holmes
Producer: Rebecca Mitchell
VFX: Zero VFX
VFX Supervisors: Don Libby, Dan Cayer
Flame Artists: Mark L'Heureux, Jaime Fortuno-Lavin
CG Leads: Robby Geis, Kyle Raffile
Tracking Lead: Serge Villegas
CG Generalist: David Pietricola
View David Pietricola’s profile
FX Artist: Kevin de Garidel, Matte Painter, Matt Friedlander
Compositing Lead: Anu Liikkanen
Compositor: Sarah Jones
Roto Lead: Brian Quinlan
Roto Artist: John Allegretti
Zero Executive Producer: Meg Bailey Zero Producer: John Swan
Audio
Sound Designer: Romain Sturma
Record/Mix: Sound Lounge NY
Mixer: Tom Jucarone
Audio PC: Matt Smith