The five-minute holiday film, directed and scored by Academy Award winners Tom Hooper and Alexandre Desplat, follows Solo—a real boy with cerebral palsy—as he embarks on a magical journey above NYC, powered by his imagination and his eye tracking technology. It’s a story of brotherhood and the unseen wonders within us.

We brought together some of the best artisans in film craft, blending live-action and visual effects seamlessly to bring Solo’s imagination to life. Our production designer custom-crafted a wheelchair-friendly real floating balloon cockpit for our hero. This allowed seamless greenscreen integration into photo-realistic, 80-foot-long CGI floating balloons.

Millions of people who are unable to move and speak were long thought to be lacking cognitive ability. Bronx-based non-profit hospital Montefiore Einstein partnered with leading technology companies and pioneered the use of eye tracking to give kids like Solo a voice and prove that they have rich inner worlds.

The holidays are a time to connect, a time of celebration for all, yet so many are not represented in the holiday stories we tell. So we told a different kind of holiday story — Solomon’s story.

Solo is seven years old and has cerebral palsy. He can’t move or speak and uses eye tracking–a technology that allows him to express himself using only his eyes. The five-minute holiday film, directed and scored by Academy Award winners Tom Hooper and Alexandre Desplat, follows Solo as he embarks on a magical journey above New York City, powered by his imagination. It’s a story of brotherhood and the unseen wonders within us.

The film was viewed over 10 million times in New York alone, and brought joy and compassion to the holidays. Through Solo, we celebrated millions of people with disabilities. They felt seen, and responded. The hashtag #representationmatters trended, shared by countless advocates for disability inclusion. They spread the word about eye tracking and inspired others. The film got an unheard of 98% positive sentiment and was a top 3 viewed holiday ad on YouTube and voted Adage Best Ads of 2023.

In "There's Magic in All of Us" for Montefiore Einstein, Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper brings his masterful storytelling and emotional touch as he taps into the essence of the holiday spirit, brotherhood and the unseen wonders within us. The film stars a real boy with cerebral palsy, whose life transforms with the help of eye-tracking technology, as he embarks on a magical journey above New York City with his brother. Representing underrepresented groups on screen mattered deeply to everyone involved with the project - we felt it was crucial to cast a real child with a disability, not an actor. The film balances showcasing eye-tracking technology with a magical dream sequence, underscored by Alexandre Desplat's emotionally resonant music, highlighting the transformative power of art and technology.

People with a neurological condition that leaves them incapable of speech and voluntary movement were long thought to be lacking in cognitive ability. At Montefiore Einstein, neurologists pioneered the use of eye tracking technology to transform communication with these patients and prove that they have rich inner worlds. About 50 million people worldwide face these challenges but only 2% have access to modern communication aids.

Our brief focused on life-changing eye tracking technology and the power it gives patients to finally express themselves. We aimed to create a film that drove awareness of eye-tracking and were determined to feature a real person with these disabilities to represent the millions that we typically never see in holiday films, and for who for so long have been left silent. This film is a window into the magical realm of possibilities when technology meets the human spirit.

Our director tells a heartwarming tale of Solo, a boy using eye tracking technology to communicate and create art, despite his cerebral palsy. The film balances showcasing eye tracking technology with a whimsical dream sequence, underscored by Alexandre Desplat's emotionally resonant music, highlighting the transformative power of art and technology.

There were the usual production challenges, but the biggest was working with Solo to coax joy, laughter and awe out of him while working on a green screen. The director had to adapt his working style, realizing that creating the right context around Solo was everything— the context defined performance. What could have been perceived as the central challenge turned out not to be a challenge, and the director hopes this story inspires more people to cast actors with a disability as a matter of course, to give them a voice and much-needed presence on our screens.