Entertainment

Sir Elton John's music video contest winners unveiled at Cannes

He said he was ‘moved and amazed’ by the creative talent he saw in the contest.
He said he was ‘moved and amazed’ by the creative talent he saw in the contest. He said he was ‘moved and amazed’ by the creative talent he saw in the contest.

Sir Elton John has unveiled the results of his music video contest at the Cannes Film Festival.

The music superstar, 70, and collaborator Bernie Taupin launched the global competition to create official videos for three of their tracks last year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their songwriting partnership.

The winners were announced in February and the videos were revealed at a star-studded screening on the French Riviera, and on YouTube, on Monday.

They were created for Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man, and Bennie And The Jets, which were released in 1971, 1972 and 1973 respectively before the emergence of music videos.

Sir Elton John and the winners (Arthur Mola/AP)
Sir Elton John and the winners (Arthur Mola/AP)
Sir Elton John and the winners (Arthur Mola/AP)

The winners were Majid Adin for Rocket Man, Jack Whiteley and Laura Brownhill for Bennie And The Jets, and Max Weiland for Tiny Dancer.

Sir Elton said: “I’ve been moved and amazed by these re-imaginings of our songs and pretty humbled by the process overall.

“The future of creativity is clearly collaborative, fusing art and technology, and it’s been fantastic to open up our work to the next generation of creative talent and to share that process with the world on YouTube.”

Adin’s winning video for Rocket Man is a poignant animated work which draws on his personal experiences as an Iranian refugee making his way to England.

A fine art university graduate working in animation production, he travelled across Europe during the 2015 refugee crisis, spending time in the Calais Jungle camp before being granted asylum in the UK.

The Bennie And The Jets video was interpreted as a futuristic talent show, with the set and central structure taking their inspiration from Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction film Metropolis.Weiland’s video for Tiny Dancer is a tribute to Los Angeles, with the track as the link between the city’s inhabitants.YouTube’s Vivien Lewit said the competition, entitled The Cut, shared many hallmarks of YouTube’s ethos in that it was about “openly inspiring ideas, providing a platform for emerging talent and people sharing their creativity with the world”.She added: “But the heart and soul of this project are Elton John and Bernie Taupin – who brought their vision to life and are encouraging a new generation to express their versions of the legendary songs they wrote and recorded. And these videos are truly wonderful.”The winners were each awarded 10,000 US dollars (£7,700) for future creative endeavours.