Levissima

Ice Caves in Thailand! Leave it to notorious director Matthias Zentner...

After our Italian commercial for Illy coffee turned out to be a huge success and won a Golden Lion at Cannes '06, producer Fred Turchetti and director Matthias Zentner came right back with a new challenge: Build an ice cave in Bangkok,Thailand! Matthias Zentner won the bid for this extravagant commercial for the Italian table water Levissima with his concept of an ice goddess watching over the Levissima spring hidden deep inside a cave of ice somewhere in the cold and remote northern wastes of our planet.

Working once again with one of Thailand's best art directors, Kuladee Suchartanun, we came up with a design that integrated real ice elements and a structure made from materials not affected by the tropical heat. Despite the fact that most of the Thai crew who worked on the cave had never even seen a single flake of snow, the outcome was stunning.

SFX too ventured into new and frozen territory, experimenting with shattering icicles and cracking walls of ice. A team of sculptors worked tirelessly to create ice elements to explode and crack. They also created intricate waterworks so that the Levissima spring would flow on demand.

In the end, when the cave was lit, the ice in place and the snow swirled between the icicles; the illusion was perfect - a winter wonderland in the middle of tropical Bangkok