The film is now streaming on Prime Video – watch here

I DID THAT CRAFT AWARDS
Judge’s Pick

IDIDTHAT JUDGE
Fran Luckin & Jono Hall

AWARDED
05 February 2026

JUDGES COMMENT ON (BEST IN CRAFT) DIRECTION 
“Film’s power has always been the ability to make you feel something. The best visual storytelling, used for whatever purpose, crawls inside your head and heart and (forgive me) rewires the way you see and experience the world – and every single frame of this project has that power. The thing that absolutely stands out is seeing all the tools at the contemporary film-maker’s disposal used to tell the kind of story we absolutely must be telling, in the way it absolutely must be told – with skill, flair and joy.” – Jono Hall, Director at Gentlemen Films 

JUDGES COMMENT ON (CRAFT MENTION) EDITING:
“Keeping the characters distinct from one another, keeping each thread alive and unique, building the anticipation of the race, and even the thrill of the race itself – all while never taking the audience’s eye away from the texture, character and sense of Philipstown itself? All a remarkable feat by the editing team. Bravo.” – Jono Hall, Director at Gentlemen Films

JUDGES COMMENT ON (CRAFT MENTION) ONLINE VFX
“I’m not a VFX expert (see “poephol”, above) but I’m going to come at this as the person being entertained and say I like that I knew I was in a fantasy world and yet I believed what my eyes were seeing. The VFX is essential to the story, which I love. By bringing the kids’ inner worlds to life so vividly in gaming imagery, it added grandeur and drama to the story, particularly in the climax of the race.  As a side note, I did notice the colour splitting in a lot of the scenes and when I looked it up (because I didn’t know what it was called) I discovered it’s often used in game design to make the graphics of the game less clinical and clean. Assuming it was a deliberate choice to help visually bridge the worlds between the fantasy and the everyday, that’s a nice subtle touch.” – Fran Luckin, Chief Creative Officer at VML South Africa

“It’s an odd experience to go on a journey with the use of VFX in a project like this, but that’s what happened. At first I wasn’t really sold on why they were being used at all? But by the end of the story, not only did I absolutely get it, I was totally locked into what they were achieving for the story. It’s not a case of VFX for VFX’s sake, but a delightful way to bring to life the way the kids see these cars and for the audience to understand the scale and individual beats of the race itself.” – Jono Hall, Director at Gentlemen Films

JUDGES COMMENT ON (CRAFT MENTION) MUSIC SUPERVISION & ORIGINAL MUSIC:
“I loved how the music captured longing and hope, and felt like it was native to the place the film came from. It was wistful but also profoundly uplifting. There were a whole lot of predictable music choices available here, no doubt. I like that they were resisted.” – Fran Luckin, Chief Creative Officer at VML South Africa

“Like a good wirecar itself, the use of music in this film feels superbly balanced. It pushes where it needs to, sits back when it should, and punches out when the story needs it – never overwhelming the narrative or the characters. It’s a wonderfully skillful demonstration of how music elevates a story without dominating it” – Jono Hall, Director at Gentlemen Films

View I DID THAT Craft Awards January 2026 showcase

In a remote desert town in South Africa, a crew of fearless kids craft wire cars from scrap metal to race in the world’s only WireCar Grand Prix. A joy-fuelled drive against isolation and inequality.

Client/Brand: The Philipstown WireCar Foundation & Accenture

Agency: Accenture Song South Africa
Independent Creative/Former Chief Creative Officer (Advisory): Alistair King
Executive Creative Director: Cameron Watson
Executive Creative Director: Devin Kennedy
Creative Group Lead: Gregory Booysen
Project Manager: Riska Emeran
Producer: Keyana Govender
Business Unit Director: Leandi Van Den Berg
Account Director: Nicola de Villiers

CGI Sequence by Accenture Song CGI Studio Hamburg
Producer: Laura Mestel
CG Supervisor: Mikko Max Reim
Editor: Julian Jacobi
Animation Supervisor: Sebastian Hofmann
Environment Lead: Nikolaus Kinder
Lead Vehicle Designer: Adam Wesierski
Lead Vehicle Artist: Alexander Ricker
Character Lead: Malte Lauinger
Compositing Lead: Daniel Beckmann
FX Lead: Christian Zilliken
Studio Lead: Tobias Lawrenz

Production & Crew
Film Production Company: Giant Films
Directed by WARD
Produced by Cindy Gabriel, Jo Barber
Creative Idea by Accenture Song South Africa
Cinematography: Jason Prins
Edited by Emily Bussac & Matthew Swanepoel
Co-Producer: Kelly-Eve Koopman
CGI Director: Dima Lochmann

Original Music Music: Pressure Cooker featuring Muneyi
Music Director: James Matthes
Creative Producer: Astrid Iverson
Lead Composers: Elben Schutte, Cobus Schutte
Additional Composers: Andries Smit, Keith Kavayi, Jordan Sterling, Tyron Woods
Vocals: Muneyi
Music Supervisor: John Fishlock

Post Production Editing
Additional Editing: Xander van der Westhuizen
Grade: Nic Apostoli

Audio Post Production Services: (Not an IDIDTHAT member)
Supervising Sound Editor: Stephen Webster
Re-Recording Mixer: Michael Botha

VFX: Chocolate Tribe
Visual Effects Supervisor: Rob van den Bragt
CGI Supervisor: Tiaan Franken
Lead Compositor: Johan Wentzel
Senior VFX Producer: Tracy-lee Portnoi
CEO & Legal: Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt
Title Design: Fraser Muggeridge Studio

Production
Production Manager: Khanyi Ngubane
Production Coordinator/Manager: Thandi Steenkamp
Production Coordinator: Emma Klopper
Producer’s Assistant: Mieke Olivier

Art Department
Art Director: Michael Linders
Art Assistant: Florence Peters
Props Master: Tiago Rodrigues
1st AD: Loren Loubser, Wendy Alport, Ridaa Adams
Director of Photography B Unit: Jared Paisley
Additional Photography B Unit: Brandon Blight
Camera Operator: Ramon Mellett | Daniel Walsh
One Wheel: Decio Lourence
1st AC: Mark van Zyl
2nd AC: Miles Ritchie
2nd AC (B- Cam): Pascale Schoeman
DIT: Yannick Lussier, Dayaan Taliep
VT: Michael Rixen, Reuben Goldblum
Key Grip: Itumeleng Mdodana
Gaffer: Jed Harris, Sekwane Dhlamini
Sound: Theuns van Dyk, Rob Cilliers

Aerial Unit
Drone Pilot: Dimirti Vaindirlis
Drone Camera Operator: Craig Rhodes-Harrison
Drone Pilot: Nicholas van der Westhuizen
Drone Camera Operator: Gabriel Nerdt
Tracking Vehicle Coordinator: Daryl Viner
Precision Driver: Ebrahim Levy
Researchers: Gabe Gabriel, Ruth Rom, Monique Prinsloo, Alex Hendriks

*If your company collaborated on this project and you’re not featured, please contact studio@ididthat.co and we’ll help you become a member.