With one leg of the world’s biggest sporting event coming to an end, the Paralympics 2024 will soon take over the global stage. Ahead of its opening on 28 August, Apple has launched a new campaign film titled “The Relay,” calling for equity and accessibility in sports.
The four-minute clip features eight able-bodied and adaptive athletes — including a track cyclist with an upper limb difference, a wheelchair racer, a low-vision swimmer, and a blade runner — competing together in a four-stage relay. “Some people are born to race,” says the voiceover, after the opening scene and transitioning into the next line: “When you want to be great, nothing can stop you.”
Similar quotes, modelled after the athletes’ experiences, are scattered through the remaining parts of the video, with Jamie xx’s “All You Children feat. The Avalanches” serving as the main backing track. “All you children gather round, we will dance to our own song,” it croons, “All you children gather round, we will dance together.”
Derek Cianfrance, known for his work on Sound of Metal and Blue Valentine served as director on the project, which also highlights accessibility features from Apple. Spoken Content on iPhone, for instance, reads the text out loud for blind and low-vision users, while Assistive Touch helps users with an upper limb difference use the Apple Watch without touching the screen.
More notably, some of the cast in “The Relay” are contenders to compete in Los Angeles in 2028, serving as a cool way to showcase the shared grit, determination, and sacrifice all athletes experience, with or without disabilities.
This latest short comes after Apple’s efforts in pushing disability representation in advertising. Last year, the tech giant joined forces with Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder, Jojo Rabbit) for “The Lost Voice”, focusing on its Personal Voice feature. In 2022, “The Greatest” short film depicted seven disabled individuals showcasing their various talents.
The Paralympics 2024 will take place in Paris from 28 August to 8 September.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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