WARD ©

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. NOW STREAMING ON PRIME VIDEO. The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix, a film directed by Paul Ward, produced by Giant Films and Accenture Song for the Philipstown WireCar Foundation @philipstownwirecar Thank you to the children of Philipstown for your enduring spirit. We are so grateful to have been part of this journey. Director WARD @wardgeous Production Company: Giant Films Producers: Cindy Gabriel @lucinda_rella_ & Jo Barber @jobarber Co Producer: Kelly-Eve Koopman @thenightbeforekelly DOP: Jason Prins @jasonprins_dop Featuring: Danster Moos, Fred McQuaid, Gert Witbooi, Joy Louw, Justin Blok, Kay Fourie, Liewelin White, Lutho Rarari, Pockles Thile, Rivano Booysen, Romeo Jacobs, Shewaandré Louw, Siphokazi Menze, Wesley Thile, With Siya Kolisi Editors: Emily Bussac @emilybussac Mathew Swanepoel @matthewswanepoel Xander van der Westhuizen @xander_vander CGI Sequence by Accenture Song CGI Studio Hamburg  @accenturesong Original Music by Pressure Cooker @pressurecookerstudios Featuring Muneyi Music Director James Matthes Audio Post @theworkroomsa VFX Chocolate Tribe @chocolatetribe Colourist Nic Apostoli Comfort & Fame @nic_apostoli Accenture Song SA Alistair King @alistairjohnking Cameron Watson @throughcameronseyes Devin Kennedy @devin.e.kennedy.1 Gregory Booysen @gregory_leigh Leandi van den Berg @leandivdberg Riska Emeran @riska_e Director of Photography B Unit Jared Paisley @jaredpaisley Additional photography B Unit Brandon Blight @brandon_lee.blight Camera Operator Ramon Mellett @ramonmellett | Daniel Walsh @mr_danwalsh Art Director Michael Linders @returntomigi Title Design Fraser Muggeridge Studio @frasermuggeridgestudio 1st AD Loren Loubser @loren_loubser , Wendy Alport @alportwendy PM Khanyi Ngubane Prod Co-Ord Thandi Steenkamp Producers Assistant Mieke Olivier @miekeolivier_ Driver Bernard Akogu DIT  Yannick Lussier VT Michael Rixen Key Grip Itumeleng Mdodana Gaffer Jed Harris Sound Theuns van Dyk Drone Pilot Dimirti Vaindirlis Drone Camera Operator Craig Rhodes-Harrison

Mami Wata ~ “Luck is alive” now a @vimeo staff pick, as well as winning the Grand Prix at @ciclopefestival Africa 2022. Thank you for all the love. ❤️‍🔥🎲🏆🎲❤️‍🔥#vimeostaffpick #luckisalive #thepowerofafrican ~ Client: Mami Wata @mamiwatasurf Director : Paul Ward @iampaulward Creative Director : Peet Pienaar peet.pienaar Production Company : Giant Films @giantfilmsza , Stink Films @stinkfilms @stinkberlin Executive Producers : Emma Lundy, Cindy Gabriel, Martina Luelsdorf, Paul Ward Producer : Jo Barber @jobarber Story : Peet Pienaar peet.pienaar Researcher : Hana Sho @hanajaynesho Director of Photography : Deon van Zyl @deonvnzl Production Art Director : Peet Pienaar & Wendy Frederiksson @_wendingmachine_ Costume Design : Peet Pienaar & Wendy Frederiksson Underwater Cameraman : Calvin Thompson @calvinthompson_films Senegal Service Company : Senegal Fixers Senegal Producer :Meissa Seck @senegalfixers Equipment : Panavision @panavisionofficial CAST Surfer : Damme Samb @kylleuh_97 Voice : Damme Samb POST PRODUCTION INFO Editor : Xander van der @xander_vander Editing Company : Strangelove @strangelove_post Post Producer : Bevil Schwartz @bevilschwartz Grade : Company 3 @company_3 Colourist : Joseph Bicknell @josephbicknell Online : Charmaine Greyling VFX Co :Tetaki Studios @studio_tekati VFX Artist : Gavin Coetzee @gavin_coetzee Animation : Mami Wata Creative Composer : Mario Batkovic @mariobatkovic Music & Sound design : BDS @b_d_s_______ Additional Music : Amary GG, Brick @amary_gg

We’re incredibly proud that The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix has been awarded multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencils, alongside Merit Awards, at the 2026 One Show Awards across Integrated, Film and Branded Entertainment for Good. We’re especially proud to see a story rooted in community, culture and resilience, celebrated on a global stage. Thank you to Accenture Song, The Philipstown WireCar Foundation and the community of Philipstown who opened their world to us, and to all our collaborators and partners who helped bring this work to life. @wardigeous @giantfilms @philipstownwirecar @accenturesouthafrica @accenturesong @oneclubforcreativity @lucinda_rella

NEW WORK COMING @wardgeous @giantfilmsza @bananas_agency @retroviral @castlelagersa

NEW WORK COMING @wardgeous @giantfilmsza @bananas_agency @retroviral @castlelagersa

The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix has been shortlisted at the 2026 AICP Next Awards in Branded Content & Entertainment. We’re honoured to be recognised alongside some of the most innovative and boundary pushing global work. The film will be screened during AICP week in New York in May. Thank you Phillipstown 🧡 @wardgeous @giantfilmsza @accenturesouthafrica @philipstownwirecar @accenturesong @theaicp

I was never sure if our culturally niche, foreign language story, would travel… or resonate with people so far removed from story and place. But maybe humanity is the universal language. Our film is being recognised on stages far from the Karoo: – @thewebbyawards Winner for Best Documentary Storytelling – Bronze @clioawards for Culture & Influence – 13 finalists at @theoneshowawards 🤞🏽 Maybe Philipstown sits a little bigger on the map today. Not because of the film makers, but because of the people and the stories that live there. At a time when the world feels uncertain, it means a lot to share something positive about something rooted in hope, joy, spirit, and people. Thank you to everyone who gave their time, trust, and heart to this film and the bigger @philipstownwirecar project. And most importantly, to the people of Philipstown: Joy Louw, Justin Blok, Kay Fourie, Liewelin White, Lutho Rarari, Pockles Thile, Rivano Booysen, Romeo Jacobs, Shewaandré Louw, Siphokazi Menze, Wesley Thile, Danster Moos, Fred McQuaid, Gert Witbooi @giantfilmsza @accenturesong @lucinda_rella_ @jobarber @thenightbeforekelly @emilybussac @matthewswanepoel @xander_vander @jasonprins_dop @jaredpaisley @pressurecookerstudios @jamesmatthes @muneyi @nic_apostoli @chocolatetribe @theworkroomsa @alistairjohnking @throughcameronseyes @devin.e.kennedy.1 @gregory_leigh @leandivdberg @frasermuggeridgestudio @returntomigi @loren_loubser and every other human who touched this project xxx

Two Webby Nominations for ‘The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix’ - Best Documentary (Brand) & Best Documentary Storytelling - in recognition of the film’s distinctive narrative voice. Public voting is open now for the Webby’s Peoples Voice Award! Vote for our film via the link in bio. Congratulations to @wardgeous and thank you to the amazing team, without whom this work would not be possible 🏆

Soccer City, 2026 🧡🧡🧡

(Link in bio) Judge’s comment on 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 @dannyrocketer @gentlemenfilms

DOWN TO THE WIRE An Interview with WARD “The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix” dir. WARD @wardgeous prod. Giant Films, Accenture Song @giantfilmsza @accenturesong In Philipstown, a small, remote South African town edged by long roads and longer histories, children gather scraps of wire and discarded materials to build racing cars by hand. Once a year, those handmade machines are sent hurtling along dusty tracks in a fiercely competitive Grand Prix - an event that is part sport, part ritual, part collective act of imagination. The Philipstown Wirecar Grand Prix, a feature-length documentary directed by Paul Ward and now streaming on Prime Video, observes this tradition with patience, care and cinematic storytelling. Rather than shaping the town into a metaphor for hardship or the children into symbols of resilience, the film allows its subjects to remain exactly who they are: teenagers navigating competition, pride, frustration and joy, all within the confines of a place that offers little but community and possibility in equal measure. Ward, a South African filmmaker whose work is marked by visually arresting and culturally grounded storytelling, spent more than a year returning to Philipstown - often without a camera - building trust before committing the story to film. The result is a documentary that resists narration and sentimentality, privileging lived experience over explanation and ending with a seven-minute CGI reimagining of the race itself that is rooted in the children’s real-world competition. In the conversation that follows, Ward reflects on childhood, home, long-form documentary craft and the ethical responsibility of filming young people - and on why, sometimes, the most cinematic stories reveal themselves only when a filmmaker is willing to slow down and listen. Read the full interview on 1.4 via the link in bio. #shortfilm #filmdirector #londonfilm #filmawards