Vindeenlief.be - Femme-o-matic (2011) 2:23 (Belgium)

Fresh faced Dutch director Jelmar Hufen wrote and directed this little film, which comes complete with a small town full of characters, a great soundtrack, and the protagonist who just wants to ride his motorbike but has nobody to hang out with, now that all his mates have 'picked up girls on the high street'. The desolated town shots are great, I really like how this clip is crafted. Our hero goes to high street to see if he can "pick up a girl too", and that's when it gets even weirder.

This spec ad toured the web as a banned ad - but the presumed senders website vindeenlief.be shows only the credits for the film, so Jelmar Hufen and crew are pretty upfront about this being spec, even if that fact is served in a "gotcha" fashion. I guess the 1,980 results on 'vindeenlief.be banned' are just from the people who never checked the site advertised. Then again, once it was posted on youtube with the word "banned" in the title, to sucker those who search on "banned" in to come and have a look, it ended up on Buzzfeed with the explanation "this dating ad was banned Belgium", and soon 300,000 people had done a double-take. Even long after Standaard.be explained that it's a self-promo. It's a spec ad, enjoy the craft and bizarre story that would never be used to sell a real dating site. It's up there with the Clown Killer.

Vindeenlief.be - Femme-o-matic

Director: Jelmar Hufen
Creatives: Frederike Groen, Jelmar Hufen

DOP: Lennert Hillege
Editor: Doug Hancock
CG, VFX, Scanning and Grading: Postoffice (www.postoffice.nl)
Sound Design: FC Walvisch - Eelco Bakker (www.fcwalvisch.com)

Actors: Robrecht Vanden Thoren, Titus de Voogdt, Gilles de Schryver, Bernadette Damman, Anne Wallis de Vries, Jaimy Boeve, Yara Boeve, Kris Swinnen, Bibi Schouten