Robe lights up African Games ceremonies
Published: MEA
CONGO: A large contingent of Robe’s BMFL Blades were called into action for the recent African Games Opening and Closing ceremonies in Brazzaville. The ceremonies marked the 11th edition of the Games and its 50th anniversary as it returned to its first host city.
French creative event production designers, Concept K, were brought on-board by the With Up agency to create the event’s lighting and visual design – which included projections onto the field-of-play at the 60,000 capacity Stade Municipal de Kintele venue. The overall event production company was Richard Attias & Associates. Jérôme Pasteur was the chief project manager for With Up and the OC show was directed by Fanny Moreau.
As soon as the job was confirmed, Concept K started thinking about the best lights to realise its design, and project lighting designer Jean-Francois Bonnement suggested BMFL Blades for all the long throw work in the stadium. ‘I was very interested in the brightness and throw capabilities as well as the range of effects,’ commented Mr Bonnement. ‘I thought this light would suit the environment really well.’
The opening ceremony called on 32 BMFL Blades. The Blades were purchased by French rental company Dushow which delivered all the lighting equipment. They were part of the top layer of lighting right around the stadium roof and used for shooting beams and creating effects into the night sky. At other times they were directed downwards onto the pitch and the performance area to light 15 10m x 10m mobile trucks being used by actors, dancers and cast.
In addition to the BMFL Blades, 60 Robe Pointes were deployed around the lower rings of the stadium and used for beam effects. They were also used for key lighting onto the cast of performers.